Echoes of Twilight
by Sebayn
Summary: Alone on a dying planet, a lone survivor must gather the strength to escape and seek the answers that have haunted his past. .:: New Chapter Online ::.
1. Alpha l Dissolution

** Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! and all other characters are property of AIC and are used without permission. This story is meant for recreational purposes only. The only thing I have claim to is my actual writings and any unique events and characters that pop up along the way. :-)  
  
Forward: This takes place roughly twenty years after the events of the OAV universe and follows the events depicted in it. The first three chapters of this story will mainly be development and setting things up for later chapters. That's not to say the earlier chapters will be boring, but it is the most unique phase of this project and more serious than the rest. I fully expect this project to contain and convey a wide range of emotions from grief to joy, from melancholy to romance. Please enjoy!   
  
FF.net reviews are most welcomed and appreciated. Other comments, flames, suggestions, praise, etc should be directed to sebayn@yahoo.com  
  


  
---  
  


  
They were all dead.  
  
Eruptions echoed in the distance, becoming closer with each volley. The living planet that had once sustained life for countless cycles was now nearing the end of its own life. The hazy red sky reflected the inescapable truth overhead.   
  
A cataclysm was coming.   
  
  
Tenchi Muyo! - Echoes of Twilight   
A Fan Fiction by Sebayn  
Cycle Alpha - Chapter 1: **Dissolution**   
  
  
  
--  
"And in the end, its not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." - Unknown  
--  
  
  


            *****                    I                       ***                    I                       *****

  
      It was time.  
  
      The old man coughed sickly as he tried to sit up in his bed. From the room nearby, the sound of footsteps resonated. The brittle wooden door creaked open admitting a second occupant to the dimly lit room. The ill man continued trying to sit-up, the harshness of his coughing becoming more and more violent.   
  
      "Be careful, you shouldn't exert yourself," chided the man's son as he walked over to the bed.  "Let me help you there." With a gentle pull, the young adult helped prop the older man's back against the wall.   
  
      "*Cough* Thank you," he struggled to choke out between breaths.   
  
      A weak smile graced the lips of the man's son as he handed his father a glass of water. He accepted the lukewarm liquid gratefully and began taking small sips of it.   
  
      "How does it look outside today?" the bedridden man inquired hopefully.  
  
      The black haired man sighed and pulled up a chair to the bed and sat down.  "Dad, I'm afraid it's getting worse out there."  
  
      The older man's face remained unchanged, his eyes remaining fixed on his offspring.  
  
      "Were you able to find anyone in Okayama today, anyone at all?" he asked. "Someone else from Tokyo or one of the larger cities may have traveled here seeking shelter from the city's harsh environment."  
  
      Since the Earth's environment had abruptly begun decaying, more and more people had migrated from the sprawling cities into what was left of the world's forests. What was left of the forests provided a little protection from the poisoned air and the damaging UV rays being bombarded onto the planet from above. Unfortunately, most of the plant life was either dead or dying. The trees, like all living life, required its own source of clean air and water to survive, and there was none of either to be found. Only one tree remained unchanged from the poisoned effects of the earth's environment.  
  
      "I'm sorry, Dad, but I think we're it," he slowly replied showing no emotion on his face.  "There may be some people who managed to get underground in some government bunker, or something like that."  He paused.  "But you know as well as I do that this place isn't like the rest of the world."  
  
      An awkward silence fell between the two men as they shifted their gaze towards the objects and pictures that reverently hung off the walls. Pictures and portraits of better times, of times when there was happiness.  An era that had long since past.   
  
      The silence was rudely interrupted as the entire house began to tremble and shake wildly. The half-empty glass of water fell to the ground and shattered into hundreds of pieces.  
  
      _It's getting closer_, the younger man thought grimly. _It won't be long now._  
  
      "Tenchi," the ailing man cleared his throat. "I want you to listen to me. I want you to gather up a few things, some belongings and other items that are important to you."   
  
      Tenchi raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going anywhere, Dad."  
  
      "Listen!" he almost yelled, worry now clearly laced throughout his entire persona. "This planet is dying, you and I both have known that for years now--"  
  
      "Dad," Tenchi blurted out, "we've had been over all of -"  
  
      "I said listen!" Noboyuki shouted at the top of his lungs. He immediately regretted shouting as he broke out into another violent series of coughs. Sighing loudly, Tenchi handed his father the handkerchief he kept in his jacket pocket.   
  
      "You need to be more careful with yourself," Tenchi wearily stated.  
  
      Noboyuki kept the handkerchief raised to his face until the last of the coughing subsided. He had aged substantially over the past fourteen months. For a man of the age of 55, he looked decades older. His hair and moustache had become increasingly thin and was now completely white. Wrinkles now filled every inch of the sagging skin on his face and body. The forty pounds he had lost during the last six months alone made him look even frailer and physically weak.   
  
      "Gather your things Tenchi," he continued slowly. "Be ready."  
  
      "No one is coming to get us -- they won't come."  
  
      "You can't be sure about that, Son."  
  
      Tenchi stood up and rubbed his tired eyes. "Dreaming won't get us out of this one."  
  
      "You can't lose hope yet," he smiled.  "After all, you're the only human on this planet who's still breathing and going strong."  
  
      "That's not true," he snapped back bitterly. "I'm not really human now, am I?"  
  
      "You're my son, that makes you human enough," he chuckled. Tenchi watched in the corner of his eye as Noboyuki unsuccessfully tried to hide his handkerchief under the pillow that was on the futon.   
  
      "Here Dad, let me get you a new one," he muttered softly as he reached for the hidden cloth.  
  
      "Do not concern yourself with-" he stopped in mid-sentence. Tenchi quickly snatched away the cloth and examined it.   
  
      The white piece of cloth was deeply stained with red blood.  
  
      "You should have told me the coughing was getting this bad," Tenchi barked angrily, turning his body way from him. He clenched the bloodied cloth even tighter in his fist.   
  
      "I'm dying Tenchi," he stated simply. "There's nothing that you or I can do about it."  
  
      "You should have told me!" Tenchi shouted.  
  
      "You already knew, Tenchi, you just didn't want to face it until now."  
  
      "Dad, you can't die," Tenchi quietly whimpered. Holding back the tears, Tenchi turned around to face his father. Noboyuki gave Tenchi a faint smile before beckoning him to sit on the futon.   
  
      "Tenchi, there is something your mother used to say that has always struck me."   
  
      He paused briefly to cough, "When I asked her to marry me she immediately agreed without the slightest bit of hesitation. A couple of years later when she was pregnant with you, I asked her why she was so quick and confident with her choice."  
  
      Tenchi's ears perked up. Despite being almost 35 years old, though looking only as if he were 25, he still loved hearing stories about his mother. She had died when he was only four. The vague memories that he retained of her were precious and very mythical to the former shrine keeper apprentice.  
  
      "Achika said that she always knew that we were destined for each other. The fact that we married while still in our late teens didn't bother her a bit. But what she said next has always stayed with me."   
  
      Taking a few shallow breaths he continued.  "My beloved wife said that the only thing in life she cared about was making the most out of each day of her life with you and I."   
  
      "Tenchi, despite dying so young, she truly lived in ways you and I will never be able to understand. She made each day count and last a lifetime..."  
  
      A deafening explosion ripped across the landscape. Looking outside the room's lone window, Tenchi could see red sparks and bits of amber fire flying across the yard and toward the shrine.   
  
      For what must have been the fifth time today, the young shrine keeper absently noted that the lake where Funaho resided was now almost dried up.   
  
      'The lake that was created with my grandfather battled Ryoko...Ryoko...' Tenchi numbly thought as he recalled the cyan-haired demon and other friends from years gone by.  
  
      Tenchi snapped his attention back to his father and the words he had spoken. "Mother was quite a woman," he thought out loud.   
  
      A broad smile lit up Noboyuki's face, "Heh heh, you don't know the half of it."   
  
      "Daaaadd."  
  
      The two stood there for a moment before breaking out into laughter.   
  
      The sudden light-hearted mood died quickly when Noboyuki began coughing again. After fetching him a fresh glass of water, Noboyuki was able to speak again.  
  
      "Tenchi, be ready." He looked directly at his son.   
  
      "There are only three things that I've always been completely sure about in my life," the elder Masaki stated.   
  
      "The first was that I love your mother. The second was that I love you, son. You're a better man that I could ever dream of being."  
  
      Tenchi awkwardly smiled.  
  
      The third..." he paused, "the third is that you have to survive this."  
  
      "I don't exactly know why, Tenchi, but I know beyond a doubt that you mustn't die here. You can't!"   
  
      "Dad..."   
  
      "Let me finish," he almost pleaded. "You've led a rough life. The loss of your mother, the loss of your friends, the battles and fights you've had to endure." He grinned ever so slightly and added, "Not to mention your grandfather's training."  
  
      Noboyuki's breathing was becoming more ragged than ever before. "Tenchi..." his voice was hoarse. "Tenchi, you must find them and discover what happened...find the answers that have plagued your soul for so long."   
  
      "They left," Tenchi replied softly, "without even saying goodbye or telling me why. Just a stupid, plain, worthless note telling us that they had decided to leave Earth."   
  
      "Things aren't always as they seem," he insisted firmly.  
  
      "Careful, you don't want to start sounding like grandfather, do you?" Tenchi retorted with a small grin. _Grandfather..._  
  
      "No I don't," as he responded his raspy voice seemed to become even more serious, "but the point remains the same. I've kept you tied down here for far too long."  Noboyuki hesitated.  "Something will happen, Tenchi, I am sure of it." Tenchi stood there silently unsure how to respond.   
  
      "I've been in the way too long, and your such a good, good son to me..."  
  
      Tenchi froze as the brutal realization rushed over him. He scrambled to his feet to search the nearby desk. Pencils, boxes and papers were flung in all directions as he looked frantically for his father's medication.  
  
      _Found it!_ he thought victoriously. _And its almost empty just as it should be...but...oh no!_  
  
      "Dad, you have been taking your medication, right Dad?" Tenchi's voice franticly pleaded. _He can't hide anything from me, he's been taking them I know he has!_ his inner voice reasoned unconvincingly.  
  
      The response that came hit Tenchi like a ton of bricks. "I can't hold you down any longer."  
  
      "You're going to take these pills, Dad!" Tenchi desperately shouted. "If I have to *force* them down your throat you *will* take them!"  
  
      Noboyuki responded by coughing even more violently than Tenchi had ever heard him cough before. Drops of blood stained the sheets of the bed and dripped onto the ailing man's white kimono creating a chilling contrast between the two colors.   
  
      Tenchi was visibly shaking now. His strong, calloused hands trembled as he fumbled with the lid of the pill container. "Hold on Dad!"  
  
      "Tenchi..." he barely was able to choke out.  
  
      "You can't leave me, Dad, not now," Tenchi sobbed. "Not like this!" The young adult was now kneeling over his father.  
  
      "I've lived a good life," he breathed. "It's time I *cough**cough* moved on."   
  
      _No! There's too much to say, too much to do!_ Tenchi thought. "You can't die yet!"  
  
      "Always remember us, Tenchi, your mother and me." Noboyuki's breathing was becoming dangerously shallow.   
  
      "Dad..."  
  
      "I *cough* love you son."  
  
      "I love you too, Dad. I always have...I always will."  
  
      Noboyuki gave his son one last feeble smile.   
  
      "Now go, Tenchi, and live. Please live, Tenchi. Promise me."  
  
      Tenchi was unsure of himself but he would not let his father's final wish go unanswered. "I promise, somehow I will."  
  
      The old man sighed softly, "That's my boy."   
  
      With those final words Noboyuki laid his head on his pillow and closed his eyes for the final time in his life.  
  
      "Dad," Tenchi mumbled as he shook his father's lifeless corpse.  
        
      "Daddy!" He shifted his body to a better angle and started the CPR techniques he had been trained in so many years ago in a vain attempt to try and escape reality. "No. No...please...not...no... Dad..."   
  
      He stopped without another word, hands locked together on his father's chest.  
  
      Having lost all self-composure and hold on his emotions, Tenchi Masaki flung himself onto the lifeless form of his father and cried.   
  


  
**To be continued...**  
  


  
  
**Closing Song: Blue**  
_Composed and Arranged by Yoko Kanno _  
  
Never seen a bluer sky,   
Yeah I can feel it reaching out,   
and moving closer,   
There's something 'bout blue,   
Asked myself what it's all for,   
You know the funny thing about it,  
I couldn't answer,   
No, I couldn't answer.   
  
Things have turned a deeper shade of blue,   
and images that might be real,   
may be illusion,   
Keep flashing off and on   
  
Free...   
Wanna be free, Gonna be free...   
and move among the stars,   
You know they really aren't so far   
  
Feels so Free...   
Gotta know free...Please...   
Don't wake me from the dream,   
It's really everything it seemed   
  
I'm so free...   
No black and white in the blue   
  
Everything is clearer now,   
Life is just a dream, you know,   
that's never ending,   
I'm ascending.  
  
The cycle will continue in: **Deadlocked**  
  
  
--  
  
Preview of next chapter:  
  
Things pick up in the next chapter of Tenchi Muyo! - Cycles of Twilight. With his father dead and Earth nearing the end of her own life, Tenchi confronts the reality of his situation while questions and his past continue to mock him in his struggle for survival. 


	2. Alpha l Deadlocked

** Disclaimer: Still don't own Tenchi, still am not a millionaire.  This story is meant for recreational purposes only.  Any other use of this work will result in much name-calling, endless bickering and party in which we'll all do the Mexican Hat Dance until dawn breaks.

---

  
  
Tenchi Muyo! - Echoes of Twilight   
A Fan Fiction by Sebayn  
Cycle Alpha - Chapter 2: **Deadlocked**  
  
--  
"Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve." - Unknown  
-- 

            *****                    II                      ***                    II                      *****

_      *Clunk* *Clunk* _

The dull sounds of metal hitting the ground reverberated evenly time after time again.  The noise was unearthly; nothing else could be heard save the hollow sound of the north wind.  Overhead, the sun scorched down onto the Earth without compassion.  The soil was powdery and lacked even a single molecule of moisture to give it the appearance of fertility.  

      Tenchi Masaki continued to swing his shovel in a steady repetition.

_      Why am I doing this?  _Tenchi questioned himself.  _Because he is your father, _his inner voice answered back.

      The smell of fire and smoke was everywhere, it was inescapable.  Most of the surrounding forests were already on fire.  The dry climate combined with the total deprivation of water made conditions ripe for forest fires.  In the far recesses of his busy mind, Tenchi estimated that if the winds shifted right the fires could easily spread to the immediate area around the shrine within an hour, two at tops.  But fire was the last thing on the shrine keeper's mind, after all what did it matter?

      The entire planet would be a blaze before long.  It was only a matter of time, a scarce quantity of the valuable substance that he was quickly running out.  Tenchi continued to bring his shovel down and upward, again and again.

_      But why?  _Tenchi continued to argue with himself.  _After all, in a few days, hours or maybe even minutes this place won't be here.  It will be wiped out just as will the rest of the planet will be._

 _      *Clunk* *Clunk* _

_      Because it is right, even if it is only for a short time, _Tenchi thought._  *This* is how it should be.  Him by her, for all of eternity._

      Tenchi paused to wiped his sweaty brow.  The grave was nearing completion, no small feat considering the time he had spent on.  The grave was parallel to that of his mother's resting place.  Before his father's death, the two of them would visit her shrine together on the day of the anniversary of Achika's death.  Both of them often visited her grave alone, seeking whatever temporary relief from the troubles of the world.  Now, there would be no more visits together.  

      There would be no more visits period.  

      The last ten hours had taken an incredible toll on Tenchi.  He was depleted in every sense of the word.  Psychically he was exhausted, having not caught any sleep in over 30 hours.  Mentally he was broken without a single inkling of how he was going to escape and keep the promise he had made.  Emotionally, Tenchi was numb and burned out.  Noboyuki's death had done much more than left him alone in the decaying world.  It forced him to honestly look at his life in ways he did not wish to.  

      Terrifying ways.

_      Why did they leave?_  It was that question which haunted him the most.  _Damn it, why?_  

      It was an unanswerable enigma that he had spent countless years of his life trying to answer.  They had come like the eastern wind, each one of them, quickly and without warning.  Ayeka, Sasami, Mihoshi, Washu and Ryoko.  Five girls from another world who had turned his world upside down and ultimately changed it forever, and he had hated it.  

      At least, at first he did.  

      He was accustomed to being alone; it was safer that way.  Gradually, after letting them stay in his life he slowly let them into his heart.  Each of them in their own way bonded with one another and became family.  

      He resumed shoveling, frustration and anger fueling his aching muscles.

      Memories swam through his mind as though it were an endless vortex, forever trapped and echoing.  Memories of faces; Mihoshi's dark skin, Sasami's blue pig tails, Washu's mischievous grin, Ayeka's serenity and Ryoko's golden feline eyes.  

      The times they shared together; the party the girls surprised threw for him when he graduated from high school, the battle with Kagato, the times when Ayeka and Ryoko blew up at each other and the times he blew up at them.  The bad times and the good.

      And just as the carnival had begun, it had ended the same way.  Quickly and without any warning. 

      On a bright sunny ordinary day, Tenchi and Noboyuki returned from a grocery-shopping trip to find the house completely deserted.  All of the girl's personal belongings were gone.  The spare futons were neatly rolled and placed in the corner of the now empty guest rooms.  Every part, every inch of the house was in pristine order.  

      Tenchi vividly remembered climbing the old wooden ladder up into the upper rafters of the house where Ryoko normally dwelled.  The wooden pillars were neatly dusted, a pillow was tucked away against the wall and a few unopened bottles of sake stood stacked on top of one another keeping silent watch over the deserted area.  

      The only traces that the girls had ever lived there came in the form a small, simple note from Sasami.  _That damned note.  _Tenchi had read it hundreds of times over the last twenty years.   

      At first, Tenchi held onto hope that it was somehow an illusion, a trick.  He went about everyday life as he had always done; taking care of the chores up at the shrine, training with this grandfather and being vigilant with his studies at college.  In fact, it was only until three weeks later during a test in his Japanese History class when it finally hit him.   

      Ryoko, Ayeka, Sasami, Mihoshi and Washu were never coming back.

      Just like the Shogun and Meiji eras, a chapter in his life had come to a close and would never be re-opened.  

      His grades dropped, it was obvious to both his father and grandfather that he was in a deep depression.  Eventually he dropped out of college altogether that semester.  It took him a year to restore his life to the point where he could go back. 

_      What could I have done?_  Tenchi bitterly thought.  _Did they want me to follow them? How, with *what?*_  Spontaneous would be a way of describing each of the girls to some extent, each had always demonstrated the ability to make rash decisions without much thinking.  Maybe they really did just get bored and leave?  

      They couldn't spend the rest of their lives on Earth after all.  

      The abrupt departure of Ryo-ouki and Yukinojo had effectively eliminated all of the interplanetary travel options available to the forgotten Juraian Prince.  _No, they didn't want me to came after them.  They must have not wanted to be around me or Earth anymore._  He couldn't think of any other answers, and nothing else made sense.  

      It was actually Noboyuki had suggested that perhaps an "evil" and "mysterious" outside source had coerced or otherwise forced them to leave, but the more he had thought about it the more it didn't sound at all plausible.  Incapacitating one or two of them, perhaps.  But all of them?  Mihoshi the Galaxy Police officer?  Ayeka and the infamous Jurian power?  Ryoko and her fighting spirit?  The self-proclaimed most brillaint scientific genius Washu and her intelligence and scientific know-how?  Sasami the assimilated host of the _Goddess_ Tsnuami?  

      They had left of their own free will.  

      In the end, he couldn't really blame them for leaving.  Earth was boring, away from the rest of the cosmos and he...well...like always he was indecisive with his true feelings.  But c_ouldn't they have at least said goodbye to his face? _he thought despairingly.  The tired man slowly returned his gaze to the far away fires that blazed in the distance.

      *****         II          ***         II          *****

      Having placed a large white blanket in the grave, Tenchi Masaki gently laid the lifeless form of his father on top of the soft material.  His entire body shook in tired exhaustion as he shifted various limbs and other body parts to properly fit in the grave.  _He looks strangely content,_ Tenchi thought to himself as he stared at his father's facial expression.  _I hope they're together now, they *have* to be._

      After resting for a moment, Tenchi gently folded the ends of the blanket together so as to completely cover the body.  Satisfied that the cloth was in place, he again picked up the shovel and began refilling the space with dirt.  Silently he watched and worked as the life-devoid form of his father became completely covered in equally lifeless soil.  The task went much quicker than it took to originally dig the grave, as Tenchi soon found himself patting the ground down with the back of his shovel, evening the surface out.  

      _There isn't a grave marker_, he suddenly realized.  _I can't do anything about it._

      Tenchi slowly glanced around at his surroundings, bloodshot eyes searching for anything, anyone.  The hot wind blew on his face, small sparks of fire riding with it.  Eventually, he returned his attention to the two graves of his parents.  _Should I say some words? _Tenchi pondered.  _What should I do?  _The two people who brought him into this life were dead, and there was only himself to mourn their loss.  He was the only one left to mourn the loss of all the life on the planet.

      _When was the last time I prayed... _Tenchi absently thought to himself.  

      He had been trained as a Shinto Priest at  a young age by his grandfather.  He had been expected to become the shrinkeeper at the Maskai Shrine once Katsuhito, or rather Yosho the long lost Jurian Prince, retired.   The unexpected departure of his friends, his _family_ had soured him however, and had impacted his soul.  His grandfather had tried to console him on his loss, on _their_ loss, but Tenchi had refused to listen.  Yosho controlled Funaho, and Funaho was what brought Ayeka and Sasami to Earth in the first place.  

      _If it could do it once,_ he had reasoned, _then Funaho could do it again._

      Upon confronting Katsuhito with his theory one unusually warm October evening, the old man had merely shook his head and again tried to make him accept the loss of his friends.  Angered, Tenchi had lashed out at his grandfather.  The verbal war of words that followed hadn't been pretty.  Aside from accusing him of wrongfully deceiving him and withholding information about his heritage, Tenchi had lambasted his grandfather's very reasons for even training him in the ancient Juraian arts.  

      The two became alienated from one another.  Tenchi refused to train with him anymore or even do the chores he had been doing around the shrine since he was 5.

      Tenchi didn't even bat an eye the following spring when Katsuhito went on his yearly trip to Kyoto, the first of the major cataclysmic earthquakes ravaged the city.  Between the fire, collapsing buildings and anarchy, only a few of his remains were recovered.  Tenchi not only refused to conduct a traditional Shinto funeral, but even attend the ceremony altogether.   

      _He deceived us, all of us,_ Tenchi bitterly recalled, _about who he was and what I am._  _He had no right, no right at all to withhold the things he did._  

      "I hate funerals!" Tenchi suddenly shouted at the top of his voice.  "I _*hate*_ them all!" he cried.  "Why, why, why, why?!" 

      Tears filled his dry eyes and began trickling down his cheeks.  He continued to stare at the two graves until the last of his strength gave out and his legs buckled under pressure.  

      He landed on the rugged ground with a loud thump and sobbed, completely oblivious to the firestorm that was rapidly approaching the Masaki shrine. 

      *****         II          ***         II          *****

      The roaring sounds of crackling fire awoke Tenchi with a start.  Besides being extremely tired, soaked in his own sweat and extremely dirty, he was now groggy and even more confused.  The ground shook beneath him; the small quakes were coming at a faster rate.

      Tenchi's eyes violently stung from the smoke and soot in the air.  He cupped his hands around his brown eyes to let them properly adjust.  When his vision finally cleared, the sight that awaited him was not pleasant.     

      _Oh no, the house!  _

Tenchi quickly stood up shocked at the sight of the flames engulfing the home where he had spent most of his entire life.  Suddenly thick, black smoke started billowing out of all the windows on the second floor.

      Adrenaline kicked in as Tenchi sprinted home with a new sense of desperation.  _I've lost my mother, my father and my friends.  I will *not* lose my home!_

The heavy wooden door remained untouched by the flames.  Tenchi wasted no time in barging through the barrier and into the smoke-laden house.  The haze that met him within seemed to stop time.  Flames danced along the walls in a chaotic rhythm, swaying as though in a morbid dance celebrating the destruction of all that was sacred in the universe.

      _There isn't enough water in the reserves to fight this large of a blaze! _He thought frantically.  The situation was indeed hopeless, but suddenly an image filled his mind.

      _"Tenchi," his father had said to him only hours before.  "I want you to listen to me.  I want you to gather up a few things, some belongings and other items that are important to you..."_

"What do I take?"  Tenchi stopped in his tracks to think out loud.  What did this house represent?   One brief, but happy, marriage.  His childhood.  His friends and family.  Over thirty-eight years of history.  _What *should* I take?_

      Tenchi stared at the pictures on the walls.  Fire slowly ate at them, encompassing the entire frame and eroding the images of his family and friends that had been taken over the years.  No, it didn't erode the images into nothingness; it permeated them with blackness.

_      This is just what happened to us, _he thought darkly.   __

      Tenchi continued to stand there, watching the surreal sight while pondering the deeper meaning.  A wooden beam from overhead suddenly came spiraling down with a resounding boom snapping Tenchi back to reality.  In that single instance he knew what to do.

      Taking a deep breath, pitch-black smoke swirling all around him, Tenchi pushed further into the depths of the house.  He had traversed the halls and rooms countless times over his life, but what was familiar was now a maze where the wrong turn could mean death by fire.

      _I'm not coughing,_ he thought as he pressed forward.  _A normal human would have died of smoke inhalation by now._  

      The more he thought about the darker his mood grew.  _I've seen enough Juraians to know that even they have their limits; even a member of the royal family couldn't withstand this toxic environment._  

      He had discovered he was part Juraian and the legal heir to the Juraian crown when he was seventeen, shortly after this revelation he had *died* in combat with Kagato, only to be brought back by the goddess Tsunami herself.  That time seemed like a dream to him, so unreal that he often questioned if it had actually happened.

      But he knew it wasn't, it could never have been a hallucination or fantasy solely because he could feel it, because of the Lighthawk Wings.  When he had first used them, he felt it.  A change had occurred, a barrier broken.  It hadn't been painful, but it was not altogether pleasant.  Something within him had awoken, something he felt again the second time he used the wings to seal a black hole caused by Dr. Clay.  

      Even now, within himself, he could feel that power.  He had tried thousands upon thousands of times to reach that power again, but it was as though an invisible divide separated him from another very real part of his being.

      _What the hell am I?  _

It was the greatest mystery of his life, even greater than the other questions plaguing his life.           

      Tenchi was suddenly aware that he could see more clearly.  He was able to discern that he was nearby the staircase.  Treading carefully but swiftly, he leaped up the flaming staircase and headed straight toward his room.  Like most of the second floor, his room was engulfed in flames.  

      No longer though was he letting fire deter him.  

      The floor creaked with each step as he treaded over to the spartan desk he had used since high school.  It was already in flames, but the item he was after couldn't be damaged by fire.  Using his protected feet, he hooked the metal handle with the toe and kicked it open.  The item he was looking for reflected the red flames on its shiny surface, it was the Tenchi-ken.  Wrapped around the hilt was a worn parchment held in place by a piece of string. 

      Tenchi was not surprised in the least we he picked the sword up to find it completely cool.  This was not made of any material found on this planet.     __

      Turning on his heels, he glided over the stairs and headed toward the living room.  The house shook violently as another beam collapsed; the fire was eating the structure alive.

      Locating what he was after, the black-haired man dashed to the bookshelf and began throwing its contents out searching for one volume in particular.  

      "Here it is," he mumbled to himself as he pulled out a thick book.  

      It was a turquoise color and had a gold lining around the borders.  The front cover read in large golden letters, "Masaki Family Photo Album."  Tenchi flipped through a few pages until he was satisfied it contained all that it was supposed to.   

      An old brown backpack that Tenchi had used during his college days lay discarded next to the shelving unit.  The flames had missed it, so Tenchi quickly grabbed it and stuffed the album into it.  The sound of crackling increased as it became painfully obvious that the flames would soon overtake this part of the house.  Overhead the ceiling began creaking even louder; parts of debris were now falling randomly from it.  Soon the house would completely collapse on top of itself.

      Tenchi was running out of time.  The last thing he had to collect was in the kitchen.  

      Most of the kitchen consisted of metallic objects and material, so the flames hadn't touched it much.  Quickly Tenchi darted over to the refrigerator.  The large stainless steel appliance had long stopped working thanks to the lack of electricity, but it did contain what he was after, bottled water and various dehydrated food kits.   

      Wasting no time, he scooped all the water and food kits the pack could hold.  He took two extra water bottles and put them to the sports bottle attachments to the each of the sides of the pack. Having everything he needed, he walked through the backdoor and out of the Masaki house for the last time.

      There was only one place now left to go.  Tenchi headed toward the dried-up lake and the space tree Funaho.

**To be continued...**

**Closing Song: "Knock a Little Harder"**  
_Composed and Arranged by Yoko Kanno _   
  
Happiness is just a word to me  
And it might have meant a thing or two  
If I'd known the difference   
  
Emptiness, a lonely parody  
And my life, another smokin' gun  
A sign of my indifference   
  
Always keepin' safe inside  
Where no one ever had a chance  
To penetrate a break in   
  
Let me tell you some have tried  
But I would slam the door so tight  
That they could never get in   
  
Kept my cool under lock and key  
And I never shed a tear  
Another sign of my condition   
  
Fear of love or bitter vanity  
That kept me on the run  
The main events at my confession   
  
I kept a chain upon my door  
That would shake the shame of Cain  
Into a blind submission   
  
The burning ghost without a name  
Was calling all the same  
But I wouldn't listen   
  
The longer I'd stall  
The further I'd crawl  
The further I'd crawl  
The harder I'd fall  
I was crawlin' into the fire   
  
The more that I saw  
The further I'd fall  
The further I'd fall  
The lower I'd crawl  
I kept fallin' into the fire  
Into the fire  
Into the fire   
  
Suddenly it occurred to me  
The reason for the run and hide  
Had totaled my existence   
  
Everything left on the other side  
Could never be much worse that this  
But could I go the distance   
  
I faced the door and all my shame  
Tearin' off each piece of chain  
Until they all were broken   
  
But no matter how I tried  
The other side was licked so tight  
That door it wouldn't open   
  
Gave it all that I got  
And started to knock  
Shouted for someone  
To open the lock  
I just gotta get through the door   
  
And the more that I knocked  
The hotter I got  
The hotter I got  
The harder I'd knock  
I just gotta break through the door   
  
Gotta knock a little harder  
Gotta knock a little harder  
Gotta knock a little harder  
Break through the door 

The cycle will conclude in: **Descent**

-- 

**Preview of Next Chapter:** Time is measured by the start and end of events.  Intersecting moments are but a part of the grand scheme of life.  In chapter 3, Tenchi comes to an end of a journey.  But what happens next will change everything.  


	3. Alpha l Descent

** Disclaimer: You know what this is, I really shouldn't have to say it.  I don't own Tenchi Muyo! or any of the characters created by AIC.  I do own the unique plots, writings and original characters that I've created.  Blah blah blah.

---

  
  
Tenchi Muyo! - Echoes of Twilight   
A Fan Fiction by Sebayn  
Cycle Alpha - Chapter 3: **Descent**  
  
--  
"Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man? I'm not sure that man needs the help." - Calvin to Hobbes  
-- 

      *****         III         ***         III         *****

      Drops of perspiration dripped from the Tenchi's face as he walked along the beaten path toward the dried-up lakebed.  Shards of amber sparkled and swirled across the landscape carried by the strong eastern wind.  The hollow wind shrieked with increased tenacity as it streaked over the horizon.      

      Tenchi's noise crinkled as he paused to sniff the air.  The overwhelming smell of smoke and soot had blanketed most all other outdoor scents for several years now.  Even though the intense quakes and other disasters that occurred had been a considerable distance from the Masaki Shrine at the time, the haze had washed across the valley engulfing every other odor within it. 

      He was tired of it.  Tired of the destruction, of the overwhelming foreboding that one whiff of air brought down on him.

      Now it would change and _he_ would be the one to change it.  It was true that he had promised his father he would escape this barren planet, but no longer was that his primary drive.  He would do it for himself.

      Step after step echoed softly as Tenchi trudged into view of the dried up lakebed, returning to a place he had visited countless times in his life.  The old backpack that was slung over his shoulders dropped to the ground with a loud thud.  Tenchi froze in his tracks, all color draining from his face instantly.      

      "It wasn't supposed to be like this."

      The bark of the ancient space tree Funaho boiled and contorted as a black oily liquid spread itself over the desperate tree's roots.  Tenchi could only watch in stunned silence, a gentle but resigned wailing sound emanating from within his mind.  The black ooze continued to expand as it grew upwards along the tree's trunk like a ferocious beast consuming its prey.

      There was no doubt.  Funaho was dying a slow and excruciatingly painful death.

      The wailing became louder, more pronounced and vocal, Tenchi realized as he stared blankly at the scene before him.  One of Funaho's upper branches cracked liked thunder and tumbled violently downward impacting off the ground and sending a cloud of dust flying upward.

      "What can I do?"  Tenchi meekly thought out loud.  

      To touch the tree would mean his own death, the bewildered man had no doubts as to the validity of that understanding.  Whatever the oil was, it was not to be violated by his hands alone.

      Branch after branch surrendered and crashed down upon the Earth where the tree had resided for over seven hundred years.  The venomous plague that had attached itself onto the tree gurgled and bubbled chaotically until at last it had engulfed Funaho entirely.  

      Tenchi turned his head and vomited while nearly collapsing to the ground him.  The grotesque sight of the tree that had been one of the few constants in his life proved too much for him to handle.  

      _It wasn't supposed to be like this.  _

The thought cycled through his mind endlessly, haunting him, mocking him while he could only make himself to look upon the ground.  Despair was etched on every feature of the lost prince's face.  To have suffered through so much, and to gather his strength and wits only to fail before he could even get started rattled his very being to the core.

      "This isn't right!"  Tenchi screamed using every ounce of strength he had left.

      Dust.  Brown dust.  Once more he had been reduced to nothingness.  Trapped in a world he could not escape, a place where hope no longer existed.  He would end up as nothingness after all, Tenchi realized as he slowly dropped to his knees as his back faced Funaho remorsefully.  

      The ground stared straight back up at him a though it were taunting his helplessness.  But Tenchi's eyes unexpectedly narrowed, fixated on the ground, focusing in closer, focusing on something that shouldn't be there.  Something that wasn't humanly possible.

      A footprint.  An impression made on the dead surface.  The shape and diameter larger than the average human's.

      The wind shrieked defiantly as Tenchi stood up once more, eyes sweeping across the length of Funaho while traveling downward upon the ground.  The footprints started from the base, only briefly covered up by the forceful wind, and continued into the decaying forest, up to a place he had hoped never to visit again.  The Shrine Office.

      They were fresh.  Someone else was here, on this planet, but not from this planet.  Who or what, Tenchi didn't know, it didn't matter to him.  But whatever the case, whoever he found at the end of those tracks was responsible for Funaho's death.

      Anger and the desire for _life _energized Tenchi as he picked up his bag and tossed it over his left shoulder once more.  In his right hand he clutched the Tenchi-ken tightly.

      He would find out who this creature was, he would discover how it arrived on this planet, and then he would kill it.      

*****         III         ***         III         *****

      _Ok, let's review the facts, _Tenchi thought wildly. _First off, my father is dead. Funaho either dead or still painfully dying from whatever that black oil stuff is._

He was marching through what was left of the forest, heading uphill to a relic of his past, a place he wished to avoid.  Dead tree limbs and branches scratched at him from all sides, like ravenous claws, as he continued uphill ignoring the sting.  

      _Someone has come to this planet, someone who is not *from* this planet._  Tenchi could barely believe that after all this time he'd be dealing with an offworlder again.  It was really almost anti-climatic it it's own ironic sort of way.  _Their purpose was to kill Funaho, my one possible link to help. _ The implications of that pointed observation were clear and present.  

      _They're here to make sure I don't get off this planet alive._

      For a moment the man paused his tracks, disturbed for the briefest of moments.  His father had died hours ago, he had confronted the fact that the Earth nearing it's end, witnessed Funaho's sudden demise, and discovered that an alien presence was nearby that wanted him dead while he now plotted their own end.  

      Logic and reason would dictate to an emotionally balanced person that he could very well be walking into a trap.  

      Caution was required, careful planning a necessity and patience critically employed. Some part of his mind acknowledged this reality, and then promptly dismissed it entirely.

      Tenchi was out of tears, it was too late to plan anything more than an all out confrontation, and patience was a commodity he just ran fresh out of. 

      The thick forest of dried dead trees lightened for a moment as Tenchi, caked in dirt and soaked in sweat, neared the top.  The red sky greeted him once more and in front of him stood the frame of the Masaki Shrine Office.

      He had shunned the place where he had trained for endless hours with his grandfather.  After Katsuhito's death, the structure held no interest for him, only bad memories.  Noboyuki had seen to it that the place's affairs were put in order.  The chaos that ensured because of the Earth's decline resulted in no tangible reason to ever bother with it.

      So it remained yet another ghost of his past.

      _Why do they want me dead? _He thought to himself as he approached the doorframe.  _None of this makes sense, and I'm sick of that.  So damn sick of it!_   

      Now was a time for answers, it was a time of truth.  The footprints ended in front of thin wooden slide door.  The door that now stood a mere four feet in front of him.  

      Tenchi gritted his teeth and tossed his bag to the ground.  His brown eyes narrowed angrily as he brought the Tenchi-ken to his side.  

      _Time to end this._

He charged the door with lightning speed, the impact of his force sent shattered slabs of thin wood flying against the interior wall.  A dim light illuminated the spacious shrine office with an eerie glow.  Ancient paintings remained bound to the wall, despite the passage of time, and statues covered in dust remained posed in perfect form.  

      "Show yourself." Tenchi demanded in a loud but abnormally calm tone.  "Now."

      Three hollow claps rang through the stale air in response.  

      Dressed in dark but intricately embroidered robes, a man who looked no older than 16 knelt in the corner room where Tenchi's grandfather had used as a dining room.  It was obvious that particular room had been recently cleaned and polished, a clear contrast from the rest of the dwelling, and from the looks of it only hours ago.  His long thick ivory hair freely cascaded down the back of his neck untied and unrestricted.  His blood red eyes met his brown ones almost casually, as though all of this was merely some morbid formality.   

      His lips curled into a smile devoid of any visible sign of deviance or hostility.

      "You're a Juraian?" Tenchi asked not wanting to believe the site before him, body tensed in a front stance.  It wasn't a monster.  He had no tentacles, fangs, laser guns, horns or anything of the sort.  

      It was a mere Juraian.  

      One with large feet no less, Tenchi noticed as he glanced down at his guest's robed legs.

      "You sound disappointed?" the 'teenager' cordially replied.  His voice sounded maturely young, vibrant, but with a feminine quality to it.

      "To be honest I am."  Tenchi said relaxing.  Out of force of habit, he scratched the back of his neck with his left hand.

      "I am very regretful to have let you down."  The smile etched on his boyish face increased.  "However, to make amends might I offer you a cup of tea?"  He politely gestured to the empty seat at the old traditional Japanese table.

      Tenchi looked deeply annoyed.  "Just so we're on the same page here, you want me dead, don't you?"  

      "We _need_ you dead."

      "Is the tea poisoned?"

      "Of course not.  That would be quite rude, wouldn't it?"

      "Not as rude as killing a first generation space tree with a toxin that does it in a time consuming and obviously painful manner," he shot back.

      "True, but it was the only option available to us."

      "Why?"  The one word question was pronounced passively, while anger was building up within the Jurain quarter-breed as he stood posed in the doorframe.  

      This wasn't going anything like he had expected it in his adrenaline fueled scheming.  This was *not* what he had expected.

      "Do not ask me questions that you already know the answer to."

      "Why do you want me dead?  Why is this planet dying!?  What happened to my family?!"  It was like the straw broke the camel's back, the dam cracked and shattered, and it all came rushing out as Tenchi Masaki began screaming at his unexpected guest with fire in his eyes.        

      Upset at the change in demeanor the Juraian frowned slightly, yet his body remained perfectly lax.  "Please calm down.  This will not do."

      Regaining his composure, but losing none of his sharp venom, Tenchi walked into the room and focused intensely on the person before him. "What the hell do you mean that 'this will not do'?  What the hell is supposed to 'do'?  Who the hell are you and why do you want me dead?"

      Like a bright light bulb unexpectedly activated to illuminate a darken room, light sprang across the Juraian's face.  "Oh my, how very rude of me.  We haven't been properly introduced yet, have we?" he spoke apologetically as he rose to his feet.   

      "What?" Tenchi asked not entirely comprehending what he was hearing from his would-be killer.

      "Our introduction." he repeated simply.  

      Tenchi blinked.

      "My name is Jorandan T'seni of house Tensil," he gracefully said as he bowed deeply before his reluctant and confused host.

      "What?" Tenchi gasped in unbelief if what was happening.

      "I am Jornad--"

      "I know that!"  Tenchi yelled.  "Why do you want me dead?!"

      Jorandan brought his hand up to cup his supple chin and considered the anger-flushed Juraian/Human hybrid before him.  Yes, he could easily tell him.  Explain to him why he had to die, why he _must_ cease to live in order to ensure the survival of the Empire.  It had been an issue long on his mind.  He could also tell him about his friends, the many offworldly females he had nobly befriended years earlier.  

      But it was like dangling strips of rotting flesh above a starved creature, something much too distasteful for him to even contemplate.    

      He would opt for plan 'B' instead.  "Know that your death will serve a higher cause." The smugness, while not intended, was laced heavy around a similar air of contrived self-righteousness.

      Tenchi cocked his head to one side as a smile of his own appeared on his lips.  Anger spliced with curiosity was a dangerous brew, one Tenchi was partaking of heavily at the moment.  "I understand if that's the case, if the cause is great.  But frankly, I just wish you'd have come right out and told me that.  I think it would have saved both of us a lot of time and trouble."

      Nodding curtly, Jorandan's white hair wisped about his face like a gentle whirlwind lost in benevolent solitude.  "Indeed, Tenchi, indeed.  Perhaps the saddest part of the entire ordeal is that if they had merely listened to me in the first place we wouldn't have even had to wait this long.  Your powers, despite your tainted blood, are reportedly great beyond any measure and as such deemed a potential threat by those fools who ordered such elaborate and entirely unneeded measures taken.   As I suspected your character, your true nature Tenchi so unlike your friends, is civilized enough to know when sacrifice is required."

      The smile widened on the face of Tenchi Masaki, his white teeth gleaming eerily in the husky light.

      "Yes," Jorandan concluded almost to himself, "You, my gentle friend, know the meaning of duty."  He was quite a striking creature, Jordanan decided in spite of his unruly heritage.  Strong, adaptable, elegant in his brutish and almost primal fashion, it was really a shame he had to die.  He was a prime specimen and the last of his kind.  It was true Earth had been a backwater planet, but all life no matter the level of refinement and intelligence deserved inspection and the right to exist.

      "You are not here to kill me." Tenchi stated, a bit amused himself at the sudden conclusion he had just arrived at.    

      Acknowledging and impressed with his accurate assessment, Jorandan giggled softly. "Merely here to insure that your life will end naturally.  I have no desire to spill blood.  I'm afraid it's just never been in my nature."

      "Then the Earth must be in even worse shape than I thought." Tenchi shrugged coldly, trying to hide his increasing distaste for the present conversation.

      "Correct again, my friend.  According to my ship's computer there are only a few hours remaining until the planet expires."  

       "Oh," Tenchi begun with his guest's true intentions finally revealed, "You merely wanted to give me some company before the end comes.  Which is why you offered me the tea.  Your computer system's must have revealed that the last human life died earlier today."

      The silver haired Jorandan closed his eyes solemnly, as though he was contemplating one of the great mysteries of the universe. "My condolences on the loss of your father, Tenchi.  Please don't think ill of me for not mentioning it sooner.  I merely wanted to avoid reopening recently acquired wounds, or so to speak."    

"How considerate of you." Tenchi made no attempt to hide his sarcastic tone while he rolled his eyes.  _And I thought Seriyu was dense,_ he thought while wiping his brow with his left sleeve

      Oblivious, Jorandan straightened his robes before clasping his hands together.  "Would you care to join me for a meal and that cup of tea?"

      "A last meal." Tenchi murmured.  "Do I get a last request, too?"

      The young man's brow furrowed at Tenchi's question.  "It would be my honor to _try_ and grant you one if it is within my power."

      It didn't require any strenuous thought on Tenchi's part to decide his reply. "Tell me what happened to my family."

      A look of forlorn sadness appeared on Jorandan's young face.  "I wish I could, Tenchi, I truly do.  But that is something forbidden for me to share.  Believe me Tenchi, I truly wish that I could grant you the information you so desire."

      Tenchi nodded sagely, expecting the answer all along.  "I understand.  I suppose I'll just have to settle for my second request."

      A silver eyebrow arched in curiosity.  "Which is?"

      Tenchi gestured smugly to the nearby table.  "Your head on that plate."

      A look of confusion appeared on Jorandan's face momentarily as he turned to gaze at the dinnerware, his boyish face crinkling.  It was the moment he was waiting for.  In a flash, blue light erupted from the master key as Tenchi lurched forward with a loud yelp.   Eagerly he swung the Tenchi-ken in forward sweeping motion aimed at the alabaster haired Juraian's neck, powered by twenty years of unrequited fury.  

      Light shimmered around the dark robes of Jorandan, an energy force Tenchi knew all too well.  His sword impacted against it, halting his surprise offensive completely while forcing him to stumble backwards from the shock of it.

      The force field dissipated from sight after a second had passed.  Jorandan slowly turned his neck until he once more faced the lone native inhabitant of Earth.  The look of Jorandan mirrored Tenchi's with clouded eyes and a disgusted look racked upon his face.

      "This will not do, Tenchi Masaki." Jorandan said.  His once smooth and calm voice now defined by hurt and betrayal.

      Tenchi smirked, now crouched in a low defensive position a few feet away from his opponent.

      Jorandan slowly began closely the distance.  "How utterly disappointing."  The Juraian shook his head sadly, the magnitude of the revelation finally forcing him to understand.  "And to think that I thought better of you, Tenchi."

      "You sound disappointed?" Tenchi smiled darkly.  His back was to the wall and the exit was blocked from his reach.  While he had no intention to run, he did not like his prospects of fighting in close quarters.  "I'd offer you some tea, but to be honest, I can't stand the stuff.  *Especially* that green tea crap that grandfather drank for breakfast, lunch and dinner."

      Revolted, Jorandan shut his eyes tightly and concentrated for the briefest of moments.  

      Juraian energy flickered and returned in full force, swirling around his body like the eye of a hurricane.  Tenchi groaned loudly, very much resigned to his fate.  The full force of the stark white energy rippled and rushed forward, hitting Tenchi like a powerful surge of water propelling him backwards.  His back hit the wall with a resounding crackle, splintering the ancient wood into pieces and sending him flying through the air outside until he landed painfully several yards away.

      Pain spread throughout Tenchi's riddled body as though it were lightning descending a metallic pole.  Trying to recover quickly, he attempted to get to his feet only to have them give out forcing him back down onto the hard ground.  Absently he shifted his head back toward the shrine office where he saw the black robed Jorandan walking menacingly toward him through the new entryway his body had unwillingly created.

      "I must admit my disappointment continues to grow.  Even I would have expected more from a person trained by the legendary Yosho." Jorandan said while shaking his head in dismay.

      Despite his injuries, Tenchi beamed a smile.  "Serves me right for not practicing in the last ten years."

      "Oh my, that is bad.  What would your grandfather have said?"  Jorandan replied mockingly.

      Tenchi laughed, a pain filled hollow sound if there was one, causing blood to sputter from his mouth.  "That old bastard would have scolded me for using anger to strike you in the first place and then would have lectured me for an hour about the proper angle to attack from.  But that doesn't matter, because no matter what I could have done the Jurian energy would have still blocked it.  Ancient techniques only get you so far against alien energy forces."

      Jorandan's lithe shadow blanketed Tenchi as he continued to try to stand.  "Quite true.  It makes one wonder why you are even able to wield the master key."      

      "You...have to know one...thing about me." Tenchi managed to choke out.  His body was quickly going into shock from the stress inflicted on it over the last twenty-four hours.  Even with mysterious abilities, there was only so much a man could take.  "That is..I'm going to survive."

      "Is that so?" Jorandan laughed.

      With one swift motion, Tenchi lurched to his feet at an inhuman speed sending a roundhouse kick straight to Jorandan's face.  Luck had finally found Tenchi, the kick connected, somehow bypassing the force field, and sent the fair skinned Juraian tumbling backwards with painful cry.  Twisting his body around to face him, Tenchi summoned and re-activated the master key and quickly brought it into a defensive back stance.  "Without a doubt."

      Jorandan regained his balance, but not his composure.  Gingerly he brought his left hand up to touch the right side of his cheek where blood dribbled downward.

      "You..." he mutter, "You.." his tone was rapidly rising, "You primitive savage!"  Scarlet eyes glared remorselessly at injured Tenchi.  "How dare you insult me you uncouth _BRUTE!_"  He was not trembling; steam was not jetting from his ears.  His rage was self-contained.

      From Jorandan's side, a white beam of light shot up forming his own sword.  From out of the shadows of his cloak, Jorandan's hands clutched an eerily similar key device intricately carved in polished Juraian wood.  

      Time froze.  

      Most sacred of all substances slowed until it came to a minor crawl.  Fires blazing around in all directions seemed to halt  as though frozen like ice.  The howling wind became silent and no louder than the faintest of whispers.  

      And then it came.

       Jorandan charged Tenchi with unparalleled speed and tenacity, cold vengeance dripping from his brow.  The exhausted Masaki was barely able to bring the Tenchi-ken up to block the first blow of the onslaught.  The white blade clashed against blue sending sparks flying, wildly dancing in the air of destruction.  A second swipe to his right knee was parried, and a fourth to the left narrowly dodged.

      Tenchi's body shook more and more after reflecting each blow.  His body was finally failing him while the pale skinned Juraian was relentless in his attacks.

      In his final desperate gambit, Tenchi swung his pale blue blade horizontally along the Jorandan's chest line, powered by the last reserves of his strength and stamina.

      The execution was sloppy, the move predictable from the moment he unleashed it.

      Jorandan skillfully jumped over it, landing back on the ground without missing a beat.  Tenchi's arms now felt like stone to him, the cumbersome weight of each limb an unbearable burden.

      Exhaustion.

      Desperately Tenchi tried to bring his blade back into a defensive position, guarding his exposed torso, but it was already too late.

      Jorandan brought lowered his blade to however just above his lower left hip.  Then with one abrupt motion his blade swept diagonally across missing Tenchi's chest and going straight through his right elbow with horrifying power.  

      It was surreal, Tenchi thought, to see his lower right arm, still clutching the ignited Tenchi-ken in his sweaty palm, go flying into the air.  Blood splattered across his face from the impact of the blow.  The stub of what remained of his right arm still extended toward the sky.

      He had seen limbs be severed before.  He had accidentally severed a limb once; the space pirate Ryoko's right wrist.  Never before had he experienced anything like it himself.  The pain jolted him into a state of paralyses beyond any he had every before experienced.    

      Time returned to normal.  Tenchi crumpled to the ground instantaneously.  Blood spurted out of his body like gushing water from a faucet, covering the ground around him in stark scarlet.  

      A weak laugh erupted from Tenchi's blood drenched lips.  "I thought..that it...wasn't in your nature to spill blood?"

      Jorandan ignored his question, choosing instead to put away his key from somewhere within his bountiful robes.  With a smile returning to his lips, his voice became as pleasant as it was when they first met.  "I cannot say it was a pleasurable experience, but it was good to meet you, Tenchi Masaki."

      Tenchi coughed violently and vomited while he desperately tried to prop his body to his side.  The defiant wind was engulfed by another sound, the hovering of a massive ship directly overhead.  The sleek design and elegant organic material made the ship undeniably Juraian.  

      From overhead a bright yellow light shone down on the duo.

      "I will of course convey your regards to your friends when I meet them.  It won't be much longer now.  How very, very sad and unnecessary this all was."  He grinned, "But if I can offer you one additional condolence.  You won't be alone in death."

      The words registered with the crippled man, but Tenchi's vision was failing him and he was quickly beginning to loose his grip on consciousness. 

      "Farewell Tenchi."  Lifting his hand to wave, Jorandan looked upon the crumpled body one last time before ascending into the light.  

      Barely a moment later Tenchi Masaki surrendered into blackness.

      *****         III         ***         III         *****

      Darkness.  

      Eclipsed only by the fire.  

      Shadowed by the haze.

      Smoke.

      Billowing clouds filled with endless death.

      Death.

      An end to a beginning.

      Death interrupted.

      A chance.  

      One last possibility.

_      Sanctuary_.

      Twin eyelids silently jittered opened revealing two bloodshot mahogany eyes.  Hazily they focused in and out until the rest of Tenchi's mind regained consciousness.

      The ground was _rattling_ constantly.  In the distance explosions rocketed sending additional shockwaves across the landscape.  Groggily Tenchi jolted himself from Death's clutches.  He arched his neck only to see the stub of what had been his right arm.  No longer bleeding, but no longer whole.

      To stay would mean death.  _I must live, I must survive._  It wasn't a mantra.  The words held no hope for him.  There was no hope.

      His body, much like the planet, shook uncontrollably.  He was now roughly twenty yards from what had been the Shrine Office building.  It too was now ravaged by flames, beating eaten alive internally and from outside.  

      Despite the small miracle of still being alive, Tenchi was covered in black soot from head to toe.  His once white t-shirt was torn in several places and the cloth lay draping open like another open wound.  He wasn't sweating, but what perspiration he had shed was now firmly latched onto his skin mixed with dirt.

      _Sanctuary._

      Carefully, using his left arm to aid him, Tenchi arose from the fatal black ash-covered ground and moved forward slowly.  His old bag had been tossed far enough from the shrine office to avoid being damaged by fire.  Nearby a small pile of rubble burned as though it were one of Hell's own infernos.      

      From that fiery rubble, something glittered in the corner of Tenchi's eye.  

      Hobbling over to inspect, Tenchi cringed to discover the flesh of his right arm being scorched in the open fire.  Still clutched in his charred right hand's grasp was the still-gleaming Tenchi-ken.  

      Seeing his arm severed was a surreal enough experience.  Seeing his blackened arm propped upright was another.  The grotesqueness was enough to overwhelm any sane being, but Tenchi was already too overwhelmed to care.  Feebly he extended his left hand to grab the shape of the master key.  It took a few firm pulls before his right hand relinquished control.    

      He shoved the cool wooden handle into his pant's pocket before exerting his remaining strength to once more sling his backpack over his left shoulders.

      There was only one place left to go now. 

      The crippled man hobbled his way into the burning forest over the trembling ground.  A flurry of sparks and ash falling like rain. 

      *****         III         ***         III         *****

      The granite mountain housing Ryoko's cave loomed over Tenchi as he journeyed closer toward the scared shrine's entrance.

      _How long has it been? _ Tenchi pondered, trying desperately to ignore the lingering pain throbbing throughout his body.  _I haven't been back here...since...it all started.  This is where it all really began._

A massive quake sent Tenchi sprawling forward toward the ground.  His head bounced off of a dense rock sending another turbulent lance of pain right to his head.  Blood spilled freely from the new wound.

      He had no choice but to ignore it the best he could as he picked himself off the ground for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

      _Am I in hell?_  It was an interesting question that there was no immediate answer to.  _If hell exists, this is exactly what it must be like_, Tenchi decided.  

      His uneven steps increased in pace, which wasn't very fast to say the least.  _I have to be close, the gate is just up there, I know it is. _

      The last time Tenchi Masaki had neared the vaulted gate had been over twenty years ago when curiosity had fueled his desire to see the infamous oni of the Masaki Shrine.  He had received more than he had bargained for.   

      _I haven't been back here since.  All those times I used to just sit and play around the shrine ended when I freed her...I guess I never had any reason to come back.  _He had stopped before the gate to look around the surrounding area.  These were where his true childhood memories lived.  _If only I hadn't forgotten..._

      It is said that the certainty of death makes a man conscious of his past.  In Tenchi Masaki's case, it was the past making forcing him to fight death.    

      When his reminiscing was over, Tenchi turned his gaze and attention one more to the gate in front of him.  It was locked.  That wasn't entirely correct, not locked, but rather _sealed.  _

      A medium length bar of smooth metal of some sort had been placed over the middle of the entryway effectively making it a door with no key.  Even more perplexing, two thin lines of brown vines dotted with mini leaves of all things traveled the length above and directly below the steel.  Too absurd to be mere decorations, but very much alive for it to be of Earthly origin.

      No matter the case, Tenchi had no time for it.  The quakes were picking up in mass quantity.  The ground itself began shifting and contorting as though some invisible force was pulling it apart at the seams.  

      With a sigh, Tenchi dropped his bag and with his good arm drew out the master key once more.  The handle had never felt so burdensome as it felt now.  The forgotten prince was once again running off of energy he did not have.

      Closing his eyes to marshal his concentration, Tenchi attempted to activate the Tenchi-ken in his weakened state.  Light flickered back and forth on the hilt for a moment until a pale blade emerged.  Relieved at his minor success, Tenchi made a quick upward motion soundly slicing off the steel and wooden beam.

      He pocketed the key hastily and painfully moaned when he picked up his pack again.  The stub where his right arm had been disturbed him.  Even so, if he didn't keep moving he'd lose even more than his arm.  Much more.

      The ground violently caused Tenchi to loose his balance again, although this time he was able to steady himself against the sturdy cavern's wall.  With a final glance toward the outside of the valley, the exhausted man opened the gate and entered into the prison that had contained a demon for so many centuries.

       _It can't be long now..._

      The alter appeared a head of Tenchi just as he remembered it when he was seventeen.  The ancient bowls and scrolls lay carefully arranged around where the Tenchi-ken had once lain dormant.

      _Odd.  It's been re-sealed_, Tenchi realized.The massive boulder and the miniature totem stone that controlled it's functions was completely closed.  With Ryoko's liberation, it did not seem logical to go to such a length to close it up again.  _But_, Tenchi thought, a_t least I know how to handle this problem._

With a loud crack Tenchi dropped the runed totem stone to the floor.  Immediately the round even stone surface split into two equal halves.

      The larger version of the stone rumbled, a sound indistinguishable from the one emanating from outside, and opened as it had over twenty years prior.

      The steep slope lead downward into a cavern he had only been in momentarily once before.  The elevated floor was carved up in a mystical style.  Liquid of some sort flowed  freely downward between the grooves.  An artificial light source illuminated the confines through the liquid.  

      _At least some things never change,_ Tenchi reflected.  It was genuinely creepy, the crippled prince could almost see the spirits of the past inhabiting the cavern.  _But at least this time I won't fall and crack my head.  I don't think I could take another hit today._

      He spoke, or more accurately thought, too soon.

      At that moment a cataclysmic quake rippled through the Earth's crust splintering much of the ground to pieces and exposing the surface to the depths of the planet's core.  Tremendous fire erupted everywhere outside.  The whole planet was on fire.

      The enormous impact sent Tenchi Masaki sprawling down into the deep recesses of Ryoko's prison with an earth-shattering scream.  "Ohhhhhhh shiiiiiiittt!" 

      The ominous humming sound played to Tenchi's ears as he reluctantly opened his eyes.  His vision was spotty, and constantly faded in and out.  The main room was amicably lit in the shame fashion the descending ramp way had been.  The central pool that had contained Ryoko for seven hundred years remained in the center of the room.

      Clutching his head with his remaining arm, Tenchi groaned in pain as he limped forward.  His vision continued to blacked out and came back at random as a fresh stream of blood dripped from his forehead.  

      Adding insult to injury Tenchi stumbled and once again fell, this time splashing into the central pool.  Immediately the lighting morphed from a sterile white shade into a dark sky blue.

      The entire room began to shake intensely; whether it was due to something he did or due to the natural forces outside was anyone's guess as far as Tenchi was concerned.  A mechanic female voice materialized literally out of then air.

_      :: Launch sequence initiated ::_   
_      :: Activating internal dampeners :: _

      "What now?" Tenchi moaned out loud.  

_      :: Removing holding clamps ::_  
_      :: Energizing core ::_  


"Is this a computer?  Hello?" Tenchi began to yell.  "Answer me please!"__

_      :: Transformation sequence initiated ::_  
_      :: Safety locks engaged ::_  


"Transfor--_what?_" Tenchi screamed as the water began to shift back and forth as if it were a glass of water being picked up by a petulant child.  The floor beams rose into the air rearranging the very setup of the holding chamber.  Everything was changing right before his eyes.  

      Overwhelmed by the new chaos, Tenchi slipped out of consciousness once more. __

_      :: Prepping engines ::_  
_      :: Auto-pilot activated ::_  
_      :: Launching in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.... ::_  


      *****         III         ***         III         *****

      Darkness.  

      Eclipsed only by the light.  

      Shadowed by the stillness.

      Air.

      Endlessly filling the void with hope.

      Life.

      A new beginning.

      Death conquered.

      A chance.  

      One last possibility.

_      Realized_.

      Sometime later, he slowly opened his eyes and stretched reflexively.  The refugee was sprawled out on a smooth gray floor.  Directly in front of him a large electronic screen displaying an image of a shattered Earth entirely consumed in red flames.  He quickly blinked several times in an attempt to make sure he was seeing straight.

      But not at the screen.

      Tenchi stared at his hand and then clenched it into a fist tightly and before releasing it.  Closed it once more, and then opened.  Unlike his left hand, there were no calluses on his right palm.  Extending his right arm into the air, he moved it around for a moment before dropping it limply back to the floor.

_      "Whatever."  _Giving one last exacerbated sigh, Tenchi Masaki closed his eyes and laid his head back onto the cool floor surrendering himself to his own fatigue. 

      *****         III         ***         III         *****

      Cruising silently through the vastness of space, the jet-black ship sped away from the remains of a celestial body once known as Earth.

  


**The cycle has been concluded.**

  
**Closing Song: Cosmic Castaway **  
_Performed by Electrasy_

Lose my head to the chemical freeway   
Comin' up on overload   
In a mystic new dimension   
Purify and sanctify me   
What, so I'm in no end game   
Move my piece right off the board   
Losing sure is easy so I am no more   
  
But I'm not broken, in my dream I win   
In here I'm nothing, a Cosmic Castaway   
  
In my head I'm a chemical dreamer   
Speed up to burn out mode   
Comin' up in the 5th dimension   
Beautify don't crucify me, yeah   
So I need no mind game poisoning my lonely soul   
Losing sure is easy so I am no more But I'm not broken, in my dream I win   
And I take over, coz I'm no loser   
And I'm in and you're not, bad dreams don't stop   
But I'm all screwed up, a Cosmic Castaway   
a Cosmic Castaway, a Cosmic Castaway   
  
And I want but have not   
Bad dreams, lost thoughts   
In here with no pain, you hurt me again   
And I want but have none   
I should beat the alien   
But here I'm no one, a Cosmic Castaway   
a Cosmic Castaway, a Cosmic Castaway   
a Cosmic Castaway 

The cycle will begin anew in: **Unrealized Revelations**

**Author's Note:** Jorandan is pronounced (Jhoor-on-din). Special thanks goes to Ledzepfan for pre-reading. 

-- 

**Preview of next chapter:** Dazed, confused and riding through space without a clue, Tenchi Masaki tracks down and follows the only person so far that knows his friends whereabouts. But what he's managed to survive and endure through so far will be nothing compared to the shock that he's in for. 

The story has begun. 


	4. Beta l Unrealized Revelations

** Disclaimer:  I don't own Tenchi Muyo! or any of the characters created by AIC.  I do own the unique plots, writings and original characters that I've created.  

–-

Darkness is a force with no equal – thick and wholly encompassing. 

Like tendrils of the netherworld it swirls, haunting, soothing, caressing in it's tight ephemeral embrace.  There is no way to prevent the encroachment, as there is no way to fight to reclaim what was taken.  

To do so only guarantees painful failure. 

Tenchi Muyo! - Echoes of Twilight  
A Fan Fiction by Sebayn  
Cycle _Beta_ - Chapter 1: **Unrealized Revelations**

–  
_"Thus when able, manifest inability.  
    
When active, nanifest inactivity.  
    
When near, manifest as far.  
    
When far, manifest as near.  
    
Thus when he seeks advantage, lure him.     
When he is chaos, take him.  
    
When he is substantial, prepare against him.     
When he is strong, avoid him.  
    
When he is wrathful, harass him.  
    
Attack where he is unprepared.  
Emerge where he does not expect it." - Sun Tzu_  
– 

      **| **- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|**

      Tenchi Masaki fell throughout the night.  

      Within the vortex of this blackness stirred forgotten images as emotions were summoned and freely exercised; bent and twisted in the most chaotic of fashions beyond imagination or reality.

      All things are random – without order – in the wasteland of this solitary realm. 

      When the night swirls in it's full fury nothing is ever a constant, or remains still. 

      But the dream was always the same.

      They didn't move.  They never did.  Arms by their side, they stared at him with eyes wide open.  

      Crimson, amber, emerald, azure.  

      The one trace of substantial life within them, and for that fact the colors always penetrated into far recesses of his bewildered mind.

      Pleading, wanting, begging and above all else filled with hollowed hope and desperation.

      The voices would materialize elicited only by pain.  The sound would whip and sting while remaining unmatched only by the tenacity of the message itself. 

      Words never ruptured from their lips.

      "You will always be the prince of my heart.  Farewell, Lord Tenchi."  Her full lips remained sealed as if frozen in a gracious smile, but Ayeka Jurai's voice gushed round about her but never from her.  The princess' posture remained as pristine as ever, yet she always seemed propped up unnaturally.  Her bright robes and intricate Jurian garb cascaded all around her, layer upon layer.  They seemed heavier, more binding and constraining than anything she had ever worn before.  

      Sasami's voice radiated pure excitement.  "Bye bye, Tenchi!  I'll really miss you!"  The voice too was from not her directly as her shut lips curled into a downtrodden frown.  The younger Jurian princess was clad in similar robes as her elder sister, albeit much lighter and less burdensome apparel.  Freckles dotted her checks obtrusively as stars in the sky do during a cloudy night.  Yet the child seemed to age before him and whither away before him.  

      Mihoshi Kuramitsu stood at attention with her right arm melded into the prefect salute.  Golden medals, rank insignia and dubious ribbons of valor donned her dress uniform.  Around her echoed the haunting giggling that had once filled the Masaki home.  The laughter was errie for it held no joy.  Devoid.  Another paradox or unexplainable contradiction that was chained to each them.  

      Bound.

      Washu spoke plainly.  "Some free advice?  Never look back.  Take care of yourself, Tenchi, and have a good life.  Compendia?"  She wore her normal Science Academy uniform with arms folded front of her.  A sincere smile grazed her lips as she stared blankly past him.

      Ryoko grinned, fangs barred.  "I love you – I'll always love you, my Tenchi."  Her red and orange traveling ensemble accentuated her curves in a way that always drew eyes to them.  Just as always, at that the precise moment, her mouth burst open as she broke down and sobbed violently.  

      "It's too late...you're too late!"

      He couldn't move.  Couldn't rush beside them all, embrace them or reassurance them in a way only physical contact is capable of.  Instead Tenchi screamed and shouted.

      But the words never came.

      One by one they slowly disappeared from sight.  Vanishing into the swirling chaos and lost to Tenchi for eternity.

      The voices would continue to echo like phantasms lost in the wind.  Faces, memories, possibilities twisting and contorting like the ravages of a wildfire.  All lost in the endless pursuit of the never-ending darkness.

      Conquered, spirited and utterly eclipsed.

      ** | **- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|**

      Tenchi gasped out loud as he awoke with a start, a tiny amount of perspiration having gathered on his forehead.

      He found himself sprawled out along a smooth floor and was greeted by the ambient hums filling the confines.  Tenchi laid there, blinking slowly and until he began breathing more evenly, while allowing his eyes and mind to adjust to his new surroundings.  After a minute, he arched his back forward bringing himself to a more suitable position to look at the immediate area.

      The light was dim.  

      It always was.

      A quick glance revealed it to be a oval-shaped room.  The center was bare, but the floor was filled with complex circular patterns of differing shades.  It was impossible to tell the exact colors with the room so dark.  The runes outlining many of the circles added an even more surreal look to it.

      Gradually, he titled his head upward.  Endless stars reigned down above him joyously.  

      The brilliance of the sight and all that it represented caused him to choke back tears.  He hadn't seen a clear night sky in years, but this was something else.   

      He had made it.  Somehow.

      The visceral reminder of all that had occurred flooded over him but for one singular moment in time Tenchi Masaki was filled with the hope of the infinite possibilities his view of the cosmos presented him with.  It was real in a tangible way, so much in fact he felt like he could almost reach through the window and grasp the glimmering lights for himself.

      Sometime later he found his eyes wandering.

      This was indeed no ordinary room he was in.

      The damning thing about every space ship he'd ever been in, whether it was Ryuoh, Souja or Ryo-ohki, was that things didn't look as popular imagination had previously defined it as.  Command bridges didn't look like bridges, more like tropical rain forest preserves or barren observational rooms floored in stainless steel.   

      The bridge he was now in was more conventional in look, but just barely.  Yes, Tenchi decided with a slight nod of the head, this was the nerve center of whatever craft he was now traveling in.

      A sleek opaque chair bubbled upwards while bearing down on a console of the same color.  There were no flickering lights, read-out monitors or control panels on it.  There were, however, two dark gray circular balls silently hovering an inch above the console's surface.

      He had something like it before decades ago.  He remembered vividly the cyan-haired woman who had used them to control her own ship so fluidly as if it were part of her own persona.

      Tenchi snorted as one of his Grandfather's more iconic lectures flashed through his mind.  "_The katana is merely an natural extension of the samurai's body." the elder Masaki had chided._  "And the Samurai, Tenchi, is merely another extension of the Emperor," Tenchi finished out loud; finding it obnoxious that he even remembered it.

      He lumbered over to the chair cautiously and peered at through hostile eyes.  His last attempt to harness the power of a space vessel hadn't gone smoothly at all.

      "This thing better come with training wheels," he sighed.

      The back of the chair melded with the contours of his back precisely.  It was like he was made to sit in this chair and he had to admit, it felt comfortable compared to the places he had rested over the last few days.

      A warm light instantly washed over the room illuminating every square inch of the bridge.  Over a dozen transparent screens materialized out of thing air around him providing sensor readouts, status reports and other information in a hyper quick fashion.  

      Weapons, life support, defense, stealth mode, sensors, damage reports, everything was there.  The screens kept multiplying exponentially like jackrabbits in heat.

      As quick as they had all come all vanished just as quick in a blink of the eye.

      For a second, Tenchi sat there blinking and unsure of what he had just witnessed.  All doubts were expelled from his mind as a new much larger transparent screen appeared in front of him.

      The woman who stared back at him from the large view screen caused a loud gasp to escape his lips.  Red shocks of hair arranged an intricately crab-like pattern flowed over her shoulders and a mischievous pair of emerald eyes winked as she flashed a grinned that the Cheshire cat herself would envy.

      "Washu!" Tenchi couldn't believe his eyes.

      _"Hola Tenchi!  Surprised?  Of course you are!"_ she cackled not missing a beat.  _"If you're seeing this, as you might have just guessed, something big happened.  Something no one, even yours truly, saw coming."_

"That's putting it mildly what the–" Tenchi began shouting excitedly before being interrupted.

_      "Now, these are more elaborate measure than I would normally like to take, and we're all sorry we for the deception, but unfortunately the rules have changed beyond my control _– _beyond any of our control.  But rules are rules and exist solely to be broken.  You're living proof of that."  _The petite scientist's grin softened into a regular smile.

      "It's a recording," Tenchi muttered to himself, but quickly become unconcerned with that trivial fact as the message continued to playback.

_      "This is your ship Tenchi, the Orca.  It's based on the leftover shell of Funaho that was used to contain Ryoko for so long, along with a nice dose of my own magic to create an interesting spliced Jurian/Hakubi hybrid ship.  In sort, it's a new breed of organic ship.  That's right, it's organic and alive just like _Ryuoh _or _Ryo-ohki_."     _

      Tenchi half nodded in feeble understanding.

_      "Now, as I said I'm technically violating some rules here.  We made an agreement, mine going back a little further than the deal the rest of the girls made, but suffice to say if I don't do this the game's over.  Done.  El fin.  The end.  So get that through your mind and keep it there."_

Tenchi could only blink as he tried to digest what was being told to him.

_      "It's bad, Tenchi, but things are only going to get worse unless we can fix it.  I know *we* can.  But if we don't put a lid on it now the whole universe is in for a world of hurt like nothing we've ever seen."  _Washu was determined, but he could see the shadows of doubt her eyes now reflected.  

      She was scared.  

      Washu the greatest scientific genius in the whole damned universe was frightened, Tenchi realized.  _But scared of what?_

_      "This message is going to disappear, it won't be played again, it won't have technically even existed, so remember this.  I've programmed the ship's computer to respond by voice command using your algorithms only.  Everything's keyed to your genetic code.  I've also taken the liberty to setup several tutorial programs to get you acquainted with your little ship.  It's not very big, but it's small, agile, fast and packs a hell of a punch.  Train, Tenchi, train like there's no tomorrow."_

      Tenchi agreed to the view screen.  "I could use some training."  The beating Jorandan gave him was still livid in his mind, from the smell of burnt flesh to the sight of severed limbs flying in midair.

      So surreal.

      _"There's one more thing.  I've left you an extra present, something you probably noticed missing for a while now.  I've made a few improvements that I think you'll like along with serving as your biological linkup to the ship's systems."_

From the console's center, a square section of the dark surface opened as small circular pole ascended a few inches into the air.  Around it gleamed his golden Jurian armor ring that the goddess Tsunami had given to him during the battle with Kagato.  

      It was different now; the carved surface containing ancient Jurian tree patterns now featured a strip of pure ebony down the middle of the band.

      "Always keep it on, you'll never know when you'll need it.  The universe is more dangerous than it ever has been and your going to need every trick you've got up your sleeve to make it."

Tenchi detached it from the circular pole and slide it quietly onto his right ring finger.  The pole silently descended back into the console from where it came.

_      "You have a lot of catching up to do, Tenchi, there's so much we need to tell you.  I wish I could explain more to you now, but I'm out of time.  We all are.  The ship will be set to automatically travel to a certain set of coordinates, we'll be waiting for you there."_

      He gulped instinctively.

       Washu voice was firm.  _"If my calculations are correct, and they're never wrong, you'll have received this within two weeks of our abrupt departure.  Curiosity has always been your driving force."_

      Tenchi started going numb.  His limbs barely registered, it was if the whole world had frozen in one fraction of a second.  Everything was still, only the sound of his heart beating registered to him.  Part of him realized that this ship, the _Orca, _was no longer moving.  It had come to a silent halt minutes ago as the stars had stopped streaking past as unreal speeds.  

      Nothing was here.  He was alone.  

_      "All is not lost yet, but hurry.  See you soon."   _

      Some part of him picked up on her words, but couldn't understand them as Washu's image faded from screen.

      Faded into darkness.

**      | **- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|**

_      "DAMN IT!" _Tenchi shouted as he landed a hit dead center on the steel gray punching bag he was currently fixated on.

      Cursing was largely foreign to Tenchi, every derogatory phrase he had ever muttered sounded unnatural on his lips.  At a time like this though, not a whole lot did.

      He tried to catch his breath while once again drenched in sweat.  The castaway was brushing up on his skills in the ship's training room, one of the few "luxuries" Washu had deemed appropriate to equip the ship with.  The room was relatively small, only about 50 square feet, but it was marvelously equipped.  Bokkens, punching bags, focus targets; it was all there neatly stored.

      It had been roughly thirty six hours since awakening on the _Orca_.  Curious name for a ship, Tenchi thought, considering that particular flower's legacy on his home planet.  It seemed contradictory given the ship's purpose, but then again, what wasn't these days?

      Tenchi had gone over all of the available tutorials left for him in the ship's computer.  He could fly the ship at will and utilize most of the ship's extra functions without many problems.

      It would take some time to master completely, but time was a commodity he seemed to have plenty of at the moment.         

      Despite the unexpected changes in his situation, Tenchi Masaki lamented over the recent revelations given to him and all the implications it created.  

      Two weeks had turned into almost two decades.  

      No one had been waiting for him at the rendezvous spot.  He never came until now.  It was him who had abandoned them.

      It wasn't them.  _It was me all a long!_ he gasped for the thousandth time in less than two days.

      He had failed them.  Him.  Tenchi Masaki.

      The person that the first crown princess of Jurai and the galaxy's most feared space pirate had lavished all their attention, hopes and dreams on had failed them.

      _How was I supposed to know I needed to go down into the cave?!_ he thought wildly as he executed a perfect round kick on the punching bag.  The gym equipment Tenchi was using was more advanced than what had been found on Earth, but that was a given.  The bag hovered in midair and countered it's own inertia. 

      "I always went to Ryoko's cave."  It was a fact that seemed foreign to him yet held true.  "I always went to Ryoko's cave." he repeated in a softer tone.

      _Why didn't I go then?  Twenty years!  Why didn't I go once in twenty years!_

A new question that had no discernable answer.  One of many that had filled his life for longer than he wished he could remember.

      Above these questions new thoughts began bubbling.  

      Terrible realizations.

      The universe was now a different place, whatever was going to happen probably had happened.  The people who had counted on him might still be alive, but in what state?  What condition?  

      But what had exactly happened and _who_ was responsible for it?

      Jorandan was an underling, he decided.  A self-righteous one but a stooge all the same.  He had admitted himself that he wasn't pulling the strings.  He was someone else's errand boy.

      But who?

      Like gears springing to life in a dormant clock, Tenchi's mind began truly thinking.  Three words began racing through his mind.

      "Follow the trail."  

      That trail started with Jorandan.  He would have to find him.  But how?

      "Orca, what's the long range sensor's status?"

_      :: Internal, short-range and long-range sensors functioning normally ::_

      Orca's mechanical voice had bothered him at first, but in the span of a few hours of studying and learning with it had made him adjust and adapt to it.

      "When we departed Earth, a Jurian ship had already left a few hours before.  Is there anyway you can track that ship?" Tenchi asked hopefully.

_      :: Affirmative.  Energy trail recorded in sensor's logs.  Calculating possible vector courses now.  Stand by. ::_  

      Tenchi's ears perked up.  This was promising.  There was, of course, the nagging issue of what to do with the man once he caught up with him but that didn't seem particularly important at the moment.

      Then it hit him as his mind dipped back into the events of his final day on earth.

      _ "I will of course convey your regards to your friends when I meet them.  It won't be much longer now.  How very, very sad and unnecessary this all was."  Jorandan had grinned while towering over him with energy crackling in his hand.  Draped in pristine robes tainted with his blood. "But if I can offer you one additional condolence.  You won't be alone in death."_

      "Oh no." 

      Emotions are like a roller coaster, but unlike all good rides he didn't seem know when to get off.  He didn't have an exit.

_      :: Analysis complete.  Jurian vessel on direct course for Port Kane.  ::_

      Tenchi was frantic.  His body was shaking once more not from muscle fatigue but from the possibility that once again he had failed where he could have succeeded.  "Orca, at his top speed how long ago did he get there?"

_      :: At top speed, the third generation Jurian treeship will arrive in approximately 1 day 14 hours, 21 minutes and 54 seconds. ::_

      Hope swelled in Tenchi's voice as the tremors in his body subsided.  "What?  He's not there yet?"

      _:: Affirmative. ::_

      Tenchi was scared to ask the next question, but what time he had was already running out.  "Orca, at our top speed how fast could we get to Port Kane?"

_      ::  At our top speed we can arrive at target destination in approximately 1 day 14 hours, 32 minutes and 23 seconds.  ::_

      "That soon?" Tenchi blurted while wiping himself off with a towel he had set on the nearby bench.  "How is that possible?  He has at least a day's start on us!"

_      :: I am faster than a 3rd generation treeship. ::_

      _Orca's_ response was as simple as it was brilliant.  "Thank you Washu!"  He felt like shouting for joy.  "Calculate the course to Port Kane, I'm on my way to the bridge now!"

      Tenchi's feet never touched the floor as he traversed the length from the training room to the bridge.

 **     | **- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|**

      His grip tightened on each of the twin control orbs.  The sleek surface remained cool to the touch despite having been clasped by his hands firmly for the last hour.  Sitting in the pilot's chair was exhilarating beyond words.  The open view set him apart – nothing but open space upon the starlit horizon.  Ryoko had called flying true freedom once before, a sentiment he could now understand and appreciate fully.

      He had to turn around or look down to remind himself of where he was. 

      Tenchi had studied jet fighters and all of the sensations pilots encountered at high altitudes.  G-forces were always intense, but thanks to the inertial dampeners the ride was always smooth no matter what maneuvers he performed.    

      Meanwhile his mind continued to accelerate sharply just as his ship sped through space.  "Pull up any information on this place, will you Orca?" Tenchi inquired out loud.  He would need technical readouts to formulate a plan.  He needed to know what was there, why it was there and how it all was interconnected.

_      :: Standby ::_

      It occurred to Tenchi that the voice had lost all traces of being mechanical as if it had matured in someway over the last day.  The former shrine keeper also realized that the voice was no longer emanating by sound waves from the deck's hidden onboard speakers, but rather reverberated from within his mind.

      It could be the ring, he thought, or maybe a direct telepathic connection like with what Ryoko and Ayeka enjoyed with their ships respectively.  He didn't care at the moment either way provided it worked.

      He had more pressing matters to think about.

      _:: Port Kane stands on the threshold of the Aragoth, Cygni and Polaris sectors.  The unique vantage point has made Port Kane the central hub for business, trade, leisure, re-supplying and other essential services and commerce.  The name "Port Kane" originates 921 years ago when Azusa Jurai defeated the inter-dimensional being known as 'Kane' in a fierce battle around the region. ::_

      "Hmm interesting.  Does the GXP or Jurian military keep a presence there?"

_      :: Both the Galaxy Police and Jurian Imperial Navy have frequently re-supplied at the station in the past, but only the Galaxy Police has an official office in service.  Current information on the station's status is unavailable. ::_

      "And even that could have changed over the years that have passed," Tenchi conceded.  Without current information and vital intel, he might as well be walking into an enemy stronghold.  

      When the options were weighed, he decided that ship-to-ship combat would be unwise.  Although assured by Orca that her firepower was superior to that of the Jurian treeship, the controllable Lighthawk Wings Jorandan's ship was equipped with would prove to be a formidable challenge while he was still getting acquainted with the systems of his new ship.

      No, best to keep things up close and personal, he decided.

      He was well rested, healed and in slightly better mental and physical condition than the first time he had faced him, but with a little luck this would be a battle he wouldn't fight alone.      

      He hoped. 

      The trick was in timing all of this.  The Jurian would beat him to the station a few minutes in advance, which meant that he would have to make up time in finding where exactly on the mammoth spaceport they were. 

      "What's our ETA now?"

_      :: 4 minutes, 32 seconds :: _

      Tenchi's heart began beating faster as adrenaline flowed unrestricted through his veins.  The moment he had waited so long for was fast approaching and he hadn't the first clue of what to do.  

      His only condolence was the fact that any reunion speeches would have until ashen haired Jurian was taken care of.  

**      | **- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|**

      Port Kane loomed over him like the fabled dragon preparing to devour it's prey.  Hulking masses of scrap metal intertwined with other parts and materials creating a behemoth of the likes Tenchi had never seen before.  Around the _Orca_ other vessels swarmed around. Big transport ships, smaller fighters to sleek pirate corvettes.  

      For a place that was hailed as one of the premiere and respected commerce hubs it looked more rundown and ranshackled than what he expected.  Charring and blast marks were evident on many of the alloy platings that seemed unnaturally fused to the main bulk.

_      :: Incoming transmission from Port Kane. ::_     

      "Put it through," Tenchi ordered.  _Just remember, it's probably only standard docking procedure.  Relax Tenchi.  Everyone thinks you're dead.  _"But audio only.  No video feed."

      Static filled the air before a voice overcame the distortion.  "This is Enclave traffic control.  We read you on our sensors.  Identify yourself and state your intentions or leave immediately."  The voice at the other end seemed tired and agitated.

      Tenchi's eyebrow arched up curiously.  "Enclave?  Uh..yeah.  This is Orca requesting permission to dock."

      Moments passed before he received a response.  "Docking costs 200 standard credits payable upon arriving.  No tricks, no trouble.  Violate those rules and you'll find yourself permanently expelled or worse.  Are we clear?"

      "Understood," he quickly agreed, putting no conditions on the arrangement.  _Weird,_ Tenchi thought.  The station seems to have undergone a change in management judging by the paranoia and laissez faire attitude the trafficker had.

      "Docking ring C, transmitting coordinates now.  Dock master out."  

      The audio feed cut abruptly leaving Tenchi to wonder what exactly waited within the rotting station.

      "It's nice to know that the concept of quality customer service is dead throughout the galaxy," he quipped.  

      A fast check of the navigational HUD revealed that the ship had indeed received the necessary information to navigate to the proper docking ring.  

      He had done this three times in simulation.  Once successful, the other time he had exerted too much thruster power and had caused minor structural damage to the docking port and ship and the last time he had accidentally slipped and rammed into a row of fuel containers causing massive explosions and chaos, effectively ending the tutorial session.  

      Confident that he could pull off the feat without assistance, Tenchi grasped the gray control orbs and veered the ship forward into the hanger bay.  Sparks flew from repair crews working on other ships overhead.  Metal jetted out everywhere creating a labyrinth-like maze that demanded precise concentration.  All around him zigging and zagging as people went about their business. 

      _And I thought parking in Tokyo was bad, _he thought to himself as he completed the final docking maneuvers.

      A few moments later steam hissed loudly as the final rusty clamps latched firmly into position.  The ship was secured.

      "Orca, do you have a lock on that treeship yet?"

_      :: The Jurian vessel docked 15 minutes ago in a tier 25 levels above our current position. ::_

      Tenchi nodded mutely before rising from his seat to head towards the door.  "Orca, please keep all systems on standby and be ready to depart at a moment's notice.  We may need to get out of here in a hurry."  

_      :: Affirmative ::_

      The airlock lay just outside of the ship's central hub that gave access to each of the Orca's major compartments.  A quick check of his belt revealed the Tenchi-ken clasped firmly to his side while his Jurian armor ring gleamed brightly from the fingers of his right hand.  Washu had provided a few sets of basic clothes, dark pants, boots and a white t-shirt.  Given the desolate condition the clothes he had left earth wearing, the foresight had been much appreciated.

      A chip containing 100,000 standard credits hadn't been a bad idea either.  Thanks to the redheaded wonder, he would be self-sufficient for time being, not to mention law abiding.  

      At the airlock, Tenchi inhaled deeply.  He was crossing another line today into an even more uncertain future.  The thought that he could very well lose his life crossed his mind more than once, but after everything he survived it seemed an insult to life to stop now.  Besides that, everyone knew when the moment was before them.

      This wasn't it.  Not yet.

      With a swoosh, the airlock flew wide open flooding Tenchi's senses with the stagnant stench of old leaking fuel particles and half-emptied waste containers.  A murky blue light bathed everything in sight with its eerie tinge on the hard metal surfaces.

      "You the owner of this ship?" a gruff voice barked.

      Tenchi turned his head to see a stubby looking bald man waddling towards him.  A limp was evident in his right leg.    He looked somewhat human, although unshaved and un-bathed for what appeared to be several days.  A bent nose dotted his otherwise chubby face.

      "I am.  Are you here to collect the docking fee?"

      "Yeah" he mouthed gruffly.  "I'm here for the payment.  250 standard credits."

      Tenchi frowned.  "The dockmaster said 200 when I spoke to him."

      "Dockmaster says a lot of things but I'm the one who collects, get my meaning?"

      Tenchi rubbed the back of his neck.  "Not entirely.  But I would be willing to pay 400 credits if you could provide me some information."

      The collector's eyes narrowed as his voice became more gravely.  "What kind of information?"

       "Nothing major.  You see, I was traveling with a good friend and during our last stop we got separated.  This was our next stop on our trip and figured he'd be waiting for me here."

      "Well, what's he look like?" he grumbled.

      "Young looking, like an older teenager, with long white hair normally dressed in exotic robes.  Hard person to miss."  Tenchi pulled out his credit chip to further entice him.  Absently he dangled it back and forth between his fingers.

      The crotchety man stroked his chin with his right hand.  He was missing two fingers.  "Haven't seen anyone like that," he admitted.  Tenchi detected no apparent deception in his voice.  " But I've been down all day.  I do know some people who might be able to help ya.  For a price."

      "I could take you to him," a small voice blurted out of nowhere.

      Tenchi's eyes darted to the source, only to find himself gazing at the shadows occupying the depths of a hollowed rusted tube that was perched on top of various other pieces of salvaged junk that lay discarded to his side.

      A smile crossed Tenchi's face.  "Do you know whom I'm talking about?" he asked.

      "The Jurian," came the soft reply.

      "Looks like I'm in luck then," Tenchi stated putting both arms on his waist and crouching down on one knee to get a better look at the darkened insides of the tube.  The wobbly old collector looked as if he was about to protest but Tenchi paid him no mind.  "Why don't you come out of there so we can talk, ok?"

      "Okay!" the voice excitedly agreed.  

      Rustling resonated from within the dark as a small figure quickly slid out and into the light.  She was small, no older than ten from the looks of her.  A mop of dark black hair lay tangled atop her small head.  She was wearing rags, he discovered, only a pullover white tunic that was a size too large and far too dirty and grimy.  Her large silver eyes sparkled like diamonds as she blinked several times in rapid succession.

      "Hello there," Tenchi greeted her warmly.

      "Hi," she replied shyly as a faint blush crept it's way onto her cheeks.

      "What's your name?" Tenchi asked while at the same time helping her get back on her legs and up from the unclean floor.

      "Michiko," she stated proudly before dusting herself off.  "All my friends call me Miko for some reason though."   Michiko glanced upwards at Tenchi anxiously, "What's yours?"

      "I see," he grinned while looking her over.  "My name is Tenchi."

      The collector, tired of being ignored, lost the last of his patience.  "Now wait just a minute.  You're one of those little blue skinned monsters who terrorizes B-deck!"  He stared at her intensely through one bulging eye before moving in closer.  "Yes, I was right, wasn't I?  She runs with a pack of orphaned wolves.  Operate in the shadows they do.  Thievin' and conspiring and always drawn like Ziellwender Vultures to rotting flesh."  

      Tenchi looked for the girl in confusion.  Abandoning all shyness, a warm grin appeared on her face.

      "Nothing good can come from following her, Mister.  Let me help you out and get you directed to some proper folks who are in the know."

      "Can you show me where my friend is right away?  I'm kind of in a rush," Tenchi asked sincerely.

      "For a price...or presents," she replied cutely before wrinkling her nose.  "I like presents."

      The air seemed thicker to Tenchi suddenly.  He was running out of time.  "We'll talk about it on the way.  Ok?"

      She nodded sagely in agreement. 

      Tenchi took a step toward the balding collector.  Sweat was now glistening on his oil-soaked skin.  "Here's 300 for all you're troubles," he offered by extending his chip outward to him.  He accepted it solemnly by scanning it through a rectangular device he had produced from within his pockets.

      "Be on your toes, she's going to try to pull a fast one on you.  Mark my words, Mister."  With that he promptly turned on his heels and began limping back to the small office he had occupied, muttering under his breath the entire way.

      "Lets get going!" Michiko declared offering her small hand to Tenchi.  He took it hesitantly right before she broke into a full sprint with him in tow.

**      | **- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|**

Michiko traversed the endless corridors, rooms and markets with the skill and precision of a mountain goat on a steep ice-coated cliff.  Nimbly she darted to and fro with Tenchi trailing behind her.  

      "Where are we going?" Tenchi shouted.  People all around them were talking in the very crowded corridor they were headed through.

      He hadn't been around so maybe people in such close proximity in a long time.  He wasn't afraid of being in crowded situations, Tenchi was traumatized but not to that absurd degree.  People were people.  

      Whether they had antennas, colorful skin and pointy ears or not.

      "To VaBou's!" she chanted while in full flight.

      Tenchi didn't struggle to keep pace, he was still in perfect physical condition, but wasn't as keen on pushing people aside and passing through people as the small blue skinned child was.  "How far away is it?" he asked in-between breaths.

      Black hair wisped behind her.  "Not far, five more decks, not far at all!"

      Tenchi moaned.

      A tall vertical ladder stood erected in front them.  Without pausing or missing a beat, Michiko jumped onto the ladder and scrambled upwards.  Tenchi followed suit.

      The hatch above popped open allowing the nimble girl to dart through it unhindered.  The light in this area was no longer tinted in blue, but rather red.

      A whole new smell greeted him after ascending the ladder and closing the hatch behind him.  Music swelled in the background.  A sultry sound full of rhythmic swings and echoed in far away moans.

      "Where are we?" Tenchi wondered.  Michiko ignored him while she quickly scanned the area.  He knelt down beside her as she watched, obviously looking for something.

      She turned around to face him.  "Too dangerous.  We'll have to take a shortcut."

      "Huh?"  

      Before Tenchi could even mouth the question they were running again.

      Everything was made out of metal or heavy plastic-like material of some sort.  Stores, vendors and houses littered the sides of every wall.  Bright flamboyant signs reminded Tenchi of the neon signs he had remembered from his many exertions into Tokyo.   

      Everything here was seamy and dark.  He had his suspicions.  The people roaming this district seemed to confirm them all and more.

      It was a flesh show.  From outfits that would have landed you in jail in most non-European countries, to suggestive gestures and looks he received from people of both sexes.  Others were more blatant – more primal with no apparent reservations about conduct in a public place.  He tried to shove them out of his mind only to turn the corner and see something much worse.

      All bathed in the putrid red as the music cascaded over them all.

      They arrived at the door minutes later.  The entryway was laced in neon lights and alien symbols he couldn't begin to understand.  All the same he had a pretty good idea of what it meant.

      "Why are we here?" he asked concerned.  A knot had been growing in his stomach at the uneasiness at being in such a sordid place.  It kept getting bigger.

      "The upper levels are restricted," she explained while bemused at the look on his face.  "You're too big to fit in the vents so I'll have to slice access to the elevator."

      "And in here is the only place you can do it?" he ask incredulously, not sure any of this was real suddenly - a small presumably innocent girl leading him through the valley of the damned.

      "Yup," she grinned.  "Let's go in and see Eolanda the Wise!"

      Pressing her finger to the pad engraved to the side of the frame, the door opened permitting entrance.  She scampered in, and for one brief moment all Tenchi could see were two aqua colored pigtails bobbing in front him.

**      | **- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|**

      The knot that had settled into his stomach had grown exponentially in the last five minutes alone.

      "What a strapping man you've found, Miko!" the voluptuous woman gasped.  She rushed over immediately to look Tenchi from head to two.  "Quite a find indeed, tell me, is he really yours?"

      Other women darted past them in various stages of undress while cold sweat glistened on their skin.  The modest-sized establishment was recently closed, or so it looked despite the parting glances given to him by the exotic ladies.  Without a doubt, the whole place was indeed a flesh show that no one was excluded from.  Bright white light beamed downward illuminating every nook and cranny in the place.

      A bar lavishly gleamed to the far right while a stage was featured in the prominent center.  The left contained a staircase that lead both up and down into unknown regions.  The departing women all traveled up the stairs and not down.  To the back, a hallway reached for several yards before coming to a dead end.  Doorways labeled in numbers scattered the length of it.  

      Everything was pristinely polished underneath the bright white light marking a clear contrast to every other place on the station Tenchi had visited.

      "Well sorta..."  The shyness in Michiko's grin returned.

      "I'll pay top dollar for him!" Eolanda gushed.  "A fine specimen of manhood such as this would fetch top dollar on the market."

      Her long flowing dark green hair and was reasonably well groomed along with the rest of her blue skinned body, Tenchi bleakly observed, aside from the little fact she was wearing nothing and was increasingly flaunting it before him.  

      Tenchi had always wondered how women tolerated high heels, especially the platform variety.  By all accounts they looked painful to wear, awkward and above all else vain to the tenth degree.  

      He never liked them.  

      Men in his native country, Japan, had a particular fascination with women who had tiny feet, but that fetish along with this bizarre foot fashion had always puzzled him to no end.

      Yet here stood a gorgeous woman, donned in a pair of arched red platform heels so advanced that the toe itself didn't touched the ground, pawing at him while purposely tapping her left foot in an even rhythm.  

      Tap shoes had also puzzled Tenchi a great deal.  But they annoyed him far more than they intrigued him. 

      "Um...Michiko," Tenchi asked while scratching his neck aggressively.

      "Yes, Tenchi?" she replied sweetly.

      "We need to get moving.  I have to find the Jurian, remember?"

      Her face brightened as if she had momentarily forgotten the purpose of this venture.  "Eolanda, we need to get to the upper decks but he's too big!"  She turned to hop up on her lap.  "Can you hack us access to one of the smaller lifts, prreettty please?  It's really important."

      "Hmm," Eolanda purred while staring at the dumbfounded man.  "That would pose a problem," she quickly explained while flashing a dazzling smile.  "Such a problem that I simply must insist on 25% of whatever you're paying her, and by my estimate that will be a nice sum if I know Miko's prices."

      Tenchi glanced at Michiko who looked lost in thought.  

      "Deal," she agreed with a heavy sigh.

      "Excellent, come right this way," she motioned with her left hand while Tenchi averted his eyes from the suggestive artwork that was displayed on all tables and that littered the walls.

      The path led downward straight to the bottom of the stairs.  Much to Tenchi's joy, it was a little darker than the blinding light that blanketed the area above.

      Three sealed circular doors confronted them.

      Eolanda gracefully walked up to the middle door and turned to leer at Tenchi.  "One of these doors leads to a backroom elevator that will allow safe passage to the upper tiers of the station," she remarked casually before grinning wickedly.  "Only one of the doors leads the right place, the others...will take you on a oh-so-fun-filled journey you won't soon forget."  

      Michiko skipped a head of Tenchi to stand beside the nude woman.

      "Choose wisely."

      Tenchi bore into her eyes.  "You have to be kidding me."

      Both females smiled and shook their heads in unison.

      "Incredible," Tenchi decided.  "What's really bad is the fact that even on my homeworld an idiot could figure this out."

      Michiko and Eolanda exchanged glances.

      It was Tenchi's turn to shake his head.  "It's the middle door, the one you two are guarding," he said.  "I mean, sheesh, anyone with half a brain could figure that out."

      Eolanda giggled, as Michiko looked on amused.  

      "I'll go on a head and activate the lift," she announced.  The little girl activated the door's opening mechanism and embarked down the long hallway a head of them.

      "We weren't really going to let you go down the wrong path," Eolanda confided to him.  "It's a tradition, you see, that has gone on around here for a very long time."

      Tenchi shrugged unapologetically.  "What is this girl to you?  Are you related?" he inquired curiously.

      Eolanda flashed him another quaint smile.  "She's my eyes and ears on the street.  Because of that, I look after her."

      "You look after her?" he asked while watching the pre-teen dart down the hallway in her dirt caked clothes.

      "She's an orphan, just like the rest of them.  No parents, no real future," she replied.  "I try to be a good influence on her," Eolanda tilted her head slightly while crossing her arms over her ample assets. 

      "A young girl can use all the good influences she can get," Tenchi agreed dryly.

      "I would wager this is your first time on Enclave, tell me, why are you really here?"

      "Looking for answers."

      "I see," Eolanda said.  "This is a very strange place to come looking for any kind of answers.  People come here to become lost."

      Tenchi began walking toward the lift at the end of the hallway before pausing in mid-step.  He turned to face her once more.  "Tell me something Eolanda, what happened  here?"

      "Here?" she repeated.

      "Yes, wasn't this place called Port Kane?  An important business hub in the the galaxy?  Do the Galaxy Police even have an office here any more?"

      "Port Kane?" she scoffed.  "This place hasn't been called that in years since the pirate and smugglers moved in.  Everyone from here to Jurai knows that."  Her gaze became more intense as she continued, "And of course the Galaxy Police aren't here anymore."

      "Why?"

      Eolanda stared at him dumfounded.  "The Galaxy Police don't exist anymore, you know that...don't you?"

      "No."

      "They disbanded over fifteen years ago.  It's a non-existent organization now, officially that is."

      "Officially?" Tenchi asked.

      "There's rumors of a few scattered remnants – rogue remnants mind you – that still operate along the outer rim.  Whatever forces they were able to muster together isn't much compared to the Jurian Imperial Navy and the X'vonian."

      "X'vonian?"

      Eolanda exploded.  "What the hell are you talking about?  How can you *not* know all of this already?"

      "Been hiding under a rock lately I guess," Tenchi shrugged impartially.

      "Who are you?"

      "Just a guy trying to find some answers, just like I said."  Tenchi took a few more steps down the hall before turning around again.  "It's pretty obvious isn't it?"      

      "Nothing else would seem to explain it," she admitted not entirely convinced.  "Go pick up a holonet archive or something.  Sounds like you could use a history lesson."

      Tenchi nodded his head in agreement.  "A good idea."

      From the end of the far hall Michiko yelled at the top of her lungs.  "_Heeelloo _down there!  The elevator's waiting!"

      Tenchi and Eolanda both had a good chuckle.  "She is a handful, isn't she?"

      "Agreed," Tenchi concurred, having long since lost any sense of abnormality at having a conversation with a naked woman.  "Take care of yourself, and thank you for helping me out.  I mean it."

      Tenchi's genuine sincerity forced a blush on her untamed cheeks.  "You are most welcome.  Come back again if you're looking for a good time...I'll give you one personally," she winked coyly.

      Ever the fast the one, Tenchi had already sprinted down to the end of the hall and into the elevator lift.  Michiko was about to close the doorway when they heard Eolanda shouting hysterically.

      "Tenchi! Wait!"

      Both peered outside the metal frame as Eolanda ran up to him, bouncing on high heels and forcing Tenchi to once more admire the well-cleaned ceiling.

      "You mentioned a Jurian a few minutes ago," she panted trying to catch her breath.  Sweat dripped freely from her off breasts and chin.  "Don't get involved with any Jurian or any business with them, Tenchi." 

      Before he could ask why she put a finger to his lips.

      "Ever since the coupe things haven't been safe anywhere, least of all for non-Jurians in Jurai space.  These people are paranoid and dangerous, Tenchi, even away from their territory.  Don't put yourself in harms way needlessly.  Especially with the X'vonian slithering around their necks and calling the shots for them." 

      "The what?"

      The countless questions that were poised to explode off his lips were sealed behind the dense metallic doors that suddenly closed in front of him as the lift sprung to life and lurched upwards.

**      | **- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|**

The lift propelled itself upwards silently as Tenchi contemplated all he had just learned.  From his side Michiko hummed quietly, periodically bobbing up and down with a smile on his face.

      "What is VaBou's?" Tenchi asked suddenly.

      Michiko looked up at him.  "Hm?"

      "VaBou's – you said that's where my friend's at.  What is it?"

      Placing a finger on her chin, the small girl contemplated for only a moment before explaining.  "It's a bar."

      Tenchi was a little disappointed.  "Just a bar?  Drinks, food, friendly neighborhood gathering spot?"

      "No.  Not just any bar," she continued.  "It's a very special one where only certain people can enter."

      Tenchi scratched his forehead.  "Oh so it's like a club?"

      "A very, very important club," she stressed.  "Only the most important traders, smugglers, mercenaries, pirates and assassins are let in." 

      Tenchi was waiting for the other shoe to drop.  "How do you plan on getting me in there?"

      The smile that spread on her lips was as innocent as it was devilish.  "I know a secret way to get _us_ in."

      "I just need to get you to show me the way," Tenchi decided.  "I'll give you the payment then."

      Michiko's all-knowing smile said otherwise, but her lips remained sealed for the time being.

      Tugging on her companion's arm, Michiko raised a hand to point at the door.  Instantly the lift came to a complete stop and the doors swung open.

      "This way," she continued to point.  "It isn't far now."

      The upper levels of Port Kane were vastly superior to the lower areas.  Construction was more solid; the air was less dingy although it still permeated him with an unsavory fragrance.  The people were not necessarily more high class, but definitely more lethal.

      Everyone was armed.

      Holstered blasters, miniature blast packs, to high-powered rifles slung across backs, Tenchi was convinced there was enough firepower and technology to take down a powerful country.  He received a few glances from other people passing through, but by and by no one paid either of them much mind for likewise they gave them the same respect. 

      The crowd thinned as they approached what looked like an entrance to a hovel.  Slabs of scrap metal lay plastered along the humble abode's doorframe.  Above the main entryway, in simple black letters, read _VaBou's_.  

      No glitzy lights, no armed guards in sight.

      Michiko spoke before Tenchi could.  "We're here."

      Brown eyes filled with puzzlement, Tenchi looked around.  "What's the catch?"

      "There is none.  We walk in."

      "But you said they didn–" he began before being cut off.

      "I said they didn't let just anyone in, but they let me."

      Tenchi only shook his head in amazement.  "You are full of surprises, little one."  He knelt down beside her to brush a stray strand of to one side of her head.  "But it's time you received your reward for a job well done," he paused while looking into her bright silver eyes.  "I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

      "But you said he was your friend?" she admonished with a cheerful smile on her lips.  

      Tenchi sighed.  "It's complicated."

      Silver eyes reflecting wisdom beyond her age, Michiko's look became serious.  "Life is as complicated or simple as you make it, Tenchi." 

      "Wise words, Michiko," Tenchi smiled faintly.  "But we must part ways now.  Do you understand?"

      Her smile returned in full mischievous force.  "I understand that you won't be allowed in there if I'm not with you and that if we wait any longer the fireworks are going to be over."  With gleam in her eyes, Michiko grabbed his arm once more.  "C'mon, lets go!"

      Against his better judgment, he followed her in.

      Inside VaBou's a bartender greeted Michiko happily with a nod and a wave but Tenchi kept to the shadows.  He was large, muscled and the spitting image of the stereotypical tough guy.  The little girl darted on top of the one the stools and whispered something into the barkeeper's attentive ear and pointing to Tenchi's secluded spot.  He nodded in apparent understanding and whispered something back to her.

      The large establishment was made up of two central decks.  One ground level and the other a good thirty yards above the ground.  Tables and chairs were strewn everywhere providing ample opportunity to have a nice quiet talk with an acquaintance or a jovial dinner with a great number of people.  Mirrors lined all the walls for whatever reasons Tenchi knew not.

      It was well maintained, but the place was nothing out of the ordinary.

      As for the people occupying VaBou's itself, there were plenty, although all seemed unusually quiet.  Nothing was particularly extravagant about any of them, but the little girl hadn't led him astray yet, and experience taught him that even the most ordinary looking people could often be extraordinary.  The silence was what keyed him off.

      People who talk and make a show were easy to profile.  Silence was like the cloak of obscurity.  It revealed nothing but yet spoke great volumes about potential.

      Yes, silent people were always the most dangerous simply because you couldn't ascertain what they were capable of.

      It was always the quiet one, a fact Tenchi respected.

      The pattering of feet announced that Michiko had returned from talking with the bartender.  

      "It's better upstairs," she revealed.  "Follow me!"  

      As if Tenchi could do anything else.

      Above the twisting staircase, Tenchi marveled at the view.  VaBou's rustic atmosphere was vintage, but for a small moment he felt almost normal - just kicking back, having a drink and enjoying the company of friends.  It was a mirage, and he dismissed it as such returning his focus back to reality.

      "Your friend is a very important person," Michiko decided.  "VaBou told me he even rented one of his backrooms to him.  He's in there now waiting for someone to come, but who?" she asked curiously.  She guided him to a table already occupied by an gray haired man wearing a well worn flight suit colored in gradient shades of green.  His hands and face were both wrinkled, but his eyes revealed hidden energy.

      "Yup," the man agreed.   "Must be real important.  VaBou hardly ever rents out those rooms."

      "Stay here, Tenchi," Michiko ordered.  "I'm going to go see who else is about."

      She was already halfway down the staircase when she rushed back.  "Oh!  And say hello to Vaughn there, he's one of my friends!"  As quick as she'd left and come back, she was gone once more.

      "Yes, she's something else," Tenchi concluded, sitting down in the chair opposite of Vaughn.

      He nodded with a smile creaking on his lips.

      "You a friend?" he inquired offhandedly.

      Tenchi considered the question for a moment.  "I think I'm more of a client than friend.  At least right now."

      Vaughn shook his head in neutral understanding before raising his drink back to his lips to drink from it liberally.     

      A few minutes passed before a sound from within the wall grabbed his attention.  Something was coming closer and coming fast.

      "Do you hear that?" he asked his impartial drinking companion.  He nodded mutely refusing even eye contact.  Setting the glass of water he had ordered back on the table, Tenchi shifted his chair to face the wall.

      Metal grinded against metal as a ventilation shaft just underneath where Vaugh had his legs propped up opened revealing an even dirtier looking Michiko.

      "She's here!  She's really here!" the girl exclaimed. 

      Tenchi's eyebrow shot up in confusion.

      "I can't believe she's really here, Vaughn!"

      Vaughn sat his drink down.  "Bound to happen sooner or later," he mumbled.

      "Who is here?" Tenchi asked, excitement was threatening to surface in full force at the very thought of the possibilities his mind was contemplating.

      Michiko was practically jumping up and down, her now dull-white tunic drenched in dirt and grime.  "She's headed HERE!" she struggled to keep her voice low.

      "Who?" Tenchi repeated, having noticed the excited girl had now forcefully placed both hands over her mouth as here eyes went wide.

      Vaughn's chair rattled as he moved it closer to the edge of the deck overlooking the entrance, bar and bottom tables.  "Her idol of course." he said simply.  "Who do you think could cause such a reaction?  She's a kid ya' know."  

      Keeping to the long shadows cast on the upper deck, he moved his chair to get a better look at the floor below.  Tenchi leaned forward momentarily toward Vaughn and repeated himself.  "Who?"

      His response was gruff and indignant.  "The galaxy's most wanted criminal of course."  Vaughn leaned back in his chair as he watched Tenchi's eyes grow wide with unbelief.  "Yep, we're in for a real treat boy.  Scourge of the civilized space, Queen of the Pirates, the acid coated barbed thorn in Jurain Empire's side; they call her.  Word has it she's one of the most powerful fighter in known space."

      A grin slowly crossed Tenchi's face as realization dawned on him of just who was approaching.

      The woman Jorandan was meeting.

      "And she's a real looker too, ya know?  The holonet pictures don't begin to do her justice," his words took on an almost dreamlike tone.  "Most beautiful woman in all of the galaxy."

      "There she is!" Michiko announced in a reverently hushed tone, stars gleaming in her wide eyes.

      Tenchi leaned back in his chair, concealed from spying eyes from ground, to observe her entrance.  Loud murmurings erupted from all in attendance as heads turned to stare at the woman who had just set foot inside.

      Hips swaying erotically with every step she took, she sauntered toward the middle table on the top part of the ground deck with all eyes locked on her and her alone.

      Her legs were perfectly encased in glossy black thigh-length boots that magnified and accentuate her long toned legs.  An tight, form-fitting one piece outfit of the same sleek color guarded her hourglass figure fleetingly, embellishing the lines of her curves and leaving her upper thighs and a generous portion of her round and shapely backside exposed in radiant splendor.  

      The dark material resembled something similar to latex or leather from his home world, but given way it hugged and melded to her skin pefectly suggested something far more advanced and exotic.   

      The front of her one-piece ensemble consisted of intertwining laces that wound upwards that stopped an inch from where it her held her generously endowed bosoms like a binding corset.  The resulting enhanced cleavage showcased to all bounced alluringly as she took each precise step but remained under the strictest of control and discipline courtesy of her elaborate attire.  

      Each hand was adorned in an elbow-length gloves made out of the same material and color, but trimmed at the top in deep lilac, just as with the boots and straps.  The contrast between smooth obsidian and creamy skin could not have been more potent.  A thick band encircled her neck while jagged silvery spikes protruded from the centerline.    

      Attention gravitated to her not only because of her ensemble but also because of how she wore it and the way she carried herself in it. 

      She conveyed the most commanding of presences.  The garb was the bait, but her regal movements and opulent mannerisms were the real trap.       

      Tenchi mouth laid a gape; eyes refusing to focus on anything save her.  Michiko and Vaughn's ramblings were forgotten while he took in her every move.

      Yes, Tenchi had to admit, the outfit he had somewhat expected in the back of his mind of remote possibilities.  

      The long flowing lavender hair lushly tied enigmatically behind her he had not.  

      Ayeka Jurai's lips curled into a pout as she thoughtfully surveyed her new surroundings like a predator eying claim to new territory. Dark crimson eyes sparkled mysteriously, blocking and utterly halting passage to the windows of her soul.

      A million thoughts raced through Tenchi's mind as he beheld her.  Understanding and comprehension abandoned him entirely, as if the two valued reasoning abilities had come to life, sprouted wings and taken flight.  

      Nothing made sense.  

      Nothing was right. 

      Minutes passed before words finally escaped his lips.

      "At least she's not wearing heels."

  
  


**To be continued...**

  
  
**Closing Song: Purify**  
Written by Balligomingo and performed by Kate Hunter  


_    
I kiss my window facing south  
    
where endless rains are splashing blue  
    
My mouth spills an ocean of words  
    
crashing waves of intention  
  
    
If I stood still  
    
Under dark gray skies  
    
Would memories flood me  
    
With alibis  
  
    
It's here where I stand  
    
with time in hand  
    
Prophesize those days  
    
Rain on me  
  
    
Wash the rain away my dear  
  
    
Incandescence can dance   
    
through white shades of sand  
    
Perfects skies  
    
tell the tides  
    
Rain on me  
  
    
A thousand days of rain  
  
    
And I see the sunrise kissing my face  
    
sometimes  
    
And I know the sun shines down on me  
  
    
Rain on me  
  
    
Feel the sunlight in my face  
    
See the sunshine in my grace  
    
Now that I know I am here  
    
Wash the rain away my dear  
_

The cycle will continue in: **Acquiescence.**

**--**

**Preview of next chapter: **With destiny ruefully hijacked, Tenchi Masaki struggles to make sense of all that is happening around him.  Meanwhile, Jorandan lurks in every corner as the game of cat and mouse comes to a dangerous close, but with the addition of a new unpredictable player who's loyalties are unknown things are bound to only heat up more.    

**Authors Notes: **Lets all say it together, "this just ain't/isn't right!"  Incidentally, the alternative title for this chapter was "Fallen Hero" but I found it too blatant and revealing and switched to the current choice.  However, it does ask the central question in a straightforward and point blank manner, what happens when heroes fail?

There is much to say, but I feel I should instead focus on the fact that I've taken so insanely long between updates, apologize for it, and beg profusely for forgiveness.  With New Years comes new resolutions; hopefully the one I made will prove fruitful. 


	5. Beta l Acquiescence

** Disclaimer:  I don't own Tenchi Muyo! or any of the characters created by AIC.  I do own the unique plots, writings and original characters that I've created.  

–-

Tenchi Muyo! - Echoes of Twilight  
A Fan Fiction by Sebayn   
Cycle _Beta_ - Chapter 2: **Acquiescence**

–  
_"Everyone, everyone, in this life knows when the moment is before them. To turn away is simple. To ignore it assures survival. But it is an insult to life, because there can be no redemption, no second chance. Beyond death there's nothing. Just darkness. And cold." -- T.C. McQueen _  
– 

  


          **| **- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **||** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|**

          In space, there is nothing.

          This nothingness is the fiber of the galaxy -- an endless void intermixed with the tangible substance of planets, star clusters, nebulas and the very essence of life itself.

          In this void, a massive space station, once the epicenter of life in this region, presides over both the sector and the past dauntingly.  Within the hulking beast of a station, Tenchi Masaki finds himself in the midst of countless people.  _Real_ people.  One of these people, a small blue-skinned girl named Michiko, acts as his guide through this unknown place.  Another is the Princess Ayeka Jurai, his long lost friend whom he journeyed here to save.

          He frets and worries about the rest of those not in this room but still remembered.  Washu, Ryoko, Sasami and Mihoshi.  Questions consume him like the black void of space.  Soothing in some regards, far neglectful and detrimental in other ways.

          Are they all right?  Where are they?  Can things be made _right?_

          But most of all, _what is going on and what the *hell* is up with Ayeka and her dominatrix ensemble?!_

          Ayeka Jurai sat with legs crossed daintily -- brandishing her bare thighs alluringly.  She was seated at a dark marble table suspended by metal that accommodated only two.   Her crimson eyes were slanted -- still shining menacingly like a predator's the same -- but now softened slightly with an air of playfulness from being the recipient of so much attention that the occupants of the establishment had unwittingly lavished upon her.  

          She was the world -- the center of their universes and Ayeka knew it.

          So she did the only thing she knew in this situation.  The thing she had trained since birth to do -- overlook the stares, the fleeting glances and unbridled curiosity that warmly greeted her entirely and walk over it all as the unworthy maggots and pond scum that they surely were.

          Minutes passed until Jorandan suddenly ascended from the shadows of the back room and made his way slowly to the table where Ayeka was with seated. Brisk white robes swirling around him, he peered at her knowingly as each step brought him closer. 

          Ayeka remained at the table uninterested while gently taking gentle sips from the Aurallian Spiced Tea she had ordered moments ago.

          "It has been a long time, my dear."

          "I am many things senile old Tensil, but 'your dear' is not one of them," Ayeka intoned dryly while idly gazing at her cup and indirectly refusing to meet his own iron stare.  "Tell me Jorandan, has your mind rotted after so many years of aspiring to attain _your_ power to a state where it can only incoherently babble ancient cliques and overdramatic banter?  Or, in the process of enslaving yourself and helping sell out your planet and soul did you completely lose it?"

          Jorandan's thin smile widened.  "Your venomous tongue has become more lethal as the years have trickled away into nothingness."  He sighed deeply before drawing up the chair next to her and sitting down.  "And to think you were once the crown princess of Jurai.  You will pardon this old clique, but I'd be loathe if I didn't point out how the mighty have fallen."

          "Ho ho ho!"  Ayeka cackled delightedly, "Your eyes seem to also be failing you in your old age.  I have more power and freedom now than I've ever had as the first crowned slave to the throne."

          Jorandon's eyebrow twitched keenly as he leaned in closer.  "Is that so?"

          "Look around here you pompous robed windbag," she flung her arms upward and gestured in all directions.  "Do you see them?" 

           Jorandon's red eyes shifted uncomfortably to each side taking in the transfixed patrons of VaBou's establishment.

          "Not just them but the _whole galaxy_!" she half-giggled.  "I am known throughout the systems, outposts and the corners of all known space.  Not as some aloft princess to be revered and admired from great distances -- but feared and respected for everything I do to spite you and your like."

          "Feared and respected wearing an out fit such as that?" he scoffed mockingly, pointing to the shiny black corset she wore.  "Only in your dreams...and perhaps certain clubs and marriage training rituals where such things are permissible."

          "You're one to talk," she replied while pulling at his thick robes.  "White, old Tensil?  Now really, where is your taste in fashion with that?  One might think you were posing yourself as Tsunami's high cleric."

          "Enough," Jornadan spat irritably.  "I've had my fill of small talk."

          Propping her chin up with both gloved hands, Ayeka yawned.  "I thought as much."

          "We have business to conclude."

          "Indeed, old Tensil, indeed."

          **| **- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **||** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|**

          It was then the smell hit Tenchi snapping him back to reality and away from Ayeka's sirenous call.  Standing next to him, Michiko remained star struck as the young girl gazed at her idol in awe.   Her friend, the gruff old Vaughn, seated next to her, seemed to only have a muted interest in the whole ordeal.  Tenchi's nostrils flared once more, inhaling the scent he knew all too well.

          Sometimes blatant, other times more subtle, but for those who knew it, detecting it was second nature.  More real than a mere premonition.  It swept over the entire establishment, forcing Tenchi to take a step back in shock.  He knew it intimately, for after having woken up with it hovering in the air for the last ten years.  There was no mistaking it for what it was -- for what it meant.

          Death.

          Tenchi's eyes moved over the two levels of the bar, darting between person to person.  Bounty hunters, mercenaries, loners, it was impossible to tell who was who.  Everyone was out of their league and all were in danger greater than they could possibly comprehend.

          "Michiko," he whispered as he knelt and put both arms on the young child's small shoulders, "something terrible is going to happen.  Do you understand me?"

          She blinked a few times as she fought an inner battle between who would control her meager attention span.  Her crystal blue eyes slowly locked onto Tenchi's before she could nod.

          Tenchi's voice remained stern as he spoke, "Do you remember where my ship is at?"

          "MmHmm," she acknowledged sheepishly.

          Tenchi drew the child in closer to him while he knelt down to bring them face to face.  "Use your secret way out of this place.  Run to my ship -- don't pause or stop until you get there."

          "But Tenchi, what about you and...and Ayeka?"  She pronounced the last name reverently with azure eyes gleaming bright.  She crossed her arms defiantly over her chest in protest.

          Tenchi shook his head violently leaving no room for argument.  "Don't worry -- don't worry about me -- don't worry about her."  He forced a smile, crude and laced with uncertainty.  "If all goes well we'll see each other in a few minutes time. These are Jurians, Michiko, and I can't protect you when the real fireworks start."

          Pouting softly, Michiko's shoulders slumped as she took one last half-hearted glance down to the first level where her idol sat.  "What will you do?"

          "Ayeka won't allow herself to be cornered in here," Tenchi decided.  "She always preferred open spaces when it came to fighting battles on her own terms.  She'll opt for the main corridor outside -- plenty of space and room for movement there.  That's where I'll be waiting."

          Michiko appeared to be deep in thought.  Seconds ticked away like centuries until she ran up and engulfed Tenchi in the biggest hug her little arms could muster.  "You're going to fight the young Jurian with white hair, aren't you?"

          He nodded grimly.

          "On the main observation deck...there's a bridge directly in front of the main cooridor overlooking the giant viewport," she told Tenchi cautiously, "get up there and you'll have the perfect hiding place to scout the area and get the drop when they they leave VaBou's." 

          "Thank you Michiko," Tenchi said with his trademark sincerity, which he seemed cursed with more than anything.  "I'll do just that.  In the meantime, get to my ship.  That white haired Jurian has probably called for help...I don't think he would take on Ayeka alone...and it won't be safe for you here any longer."

          "You'd take me with you...away from this station?" she asked unsure of what she had just heard.

          Tenchi's reply was, again, simplicity itself.  "Yes."  

          It wasn't in his heart to leave her on her own.  The little child had acted as guide for the last several hours, an unspoken bond formed he was hesitant to acknowledge in any way.  Unlike Eolanda and the other station inhabitants, she didn't have a way out.   Tenchi was no tactical expert, but if Jurian reinforcements were close to the area he doubted the rickety old station would be able to survive the onslaught.  He wouldn't abandon her to face certain death like that.

          He couldn't.

          "I don't know what happens from this point out," Tenchi admitted, his voice nothing more than a hoarse whisper.  "I'm going to duck out through the front door.  They won't be able to see me at the table they're at.  My ship will give you shelter regardless of what happens.  You can trust in that."

          Michiko tried to speak but found she couldn't -- she merely nodded softly.  Understanding, Tenchi squeezed her little hand tenderly before shooing her away. 

          A metal panel opened on the wall at behind Vaughn's foot revealing nothing but an expanse of darkness.  The dirty little blue-skinned girl with tangled black hair scampered inside.  Piercing blue eyes illuminated the darkness for a brief nano-second before blinking out like the snuffed wick of a candle.     

          Tenchi closed his eyes and took in a deep breath of air.

          Inside him a million different feelings and emotions clashed turbulently with one another.  Ayeka was before him but in mortal danger from the forces that had separated their family in the first place.  The same forces that had taken the universe and twisted and contorted it until it was in the sad shape Tenchi had found it in.

          Silent rage ran beneath still waters.

          He was now poised to enter another conflict he had no discernable way out of.   He hoped Ayeka would be able to counter-balance Jorandan's masterful grasp of Jurian power.  Tenchi's last encounter with the Jurian had impressed upon him how insignificant his fighting prowess truly was in its current state.  He had a few moves, but the reality was that the element of surprise was his sole weapon.  Once extinguished he was in deep shit. 

          The Tenchi-ken swung idly from his belt's strong grasp, as adrenaline coursed through his blood heightening his senses.  Far beyond his comprehension and recognition, Tenchi Masaki failed to take note of the three jade triangle emblems appearing and disappearing on top his forehead faintly.

          As he walked over to the stairs leading to the lower levels of VaBou's, Tenchi paused suddenly grabbing the railing and fixating his attention once more on the quarrelling couple on the ground floor.  

          **| **- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **||** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|**

          "What do you mean the array has been closed?" Ayeka questioned cautiously. 

          "Precisely that.  It's function was no longer...required...in Sol and as such it has been removed to a more useful location.  Quite naturally, you're free to come and go in the system as you please."

          Suspicion arched its way onto the woman's face.  She despised being taken for a fool but whatever had happened she needed to know.  

          "I can go back to Earth?"

          "Of course," Jorandan beamed.  "What's left of it that is."

          "What?" Ayeka's asked in a hushed tone.  He proceeded to tell her the fate that had befallen Earth.  His version.  Gutted in some places, the reality quickly became apparent to the shocked woman of what really had transpired.  Loopholes are loopholes, in the cruelest possible sense. 

          "We had a deal!" Ayeka shrieked at the top of her voice, with the glint of murder in her eyes.  "A promise...we did everything you asked."

          Jorandan leaned back in his chair smugly.  "Come, come my dear.  Surely you can see that we honored our end of the bargain."

          "Honored?" Ayeka gasped.  "How dare you patronize me.  How dare you..you--"  

          "Well, it's nice to see even one such as you can be at a loss for words," Jorandan remarked heartily, his smooth _young _face relaxed into a contented sigh.  He seized the moment to grasp her right hand, catching Ayeka off guard, and bringing it up to his mouth for a gentle kiss.  Visibly shocked and revolted, Ayeka pulled her hand away from him.  

          "You bastard," she whispered.  

          Emotion and energy drained away from Ayeka  -- siphoned away -- leaving her distant and detached and a shell of her former vibrant self -- stripped of tears, beyond sobbing or grieving of any kind.  

          "And we did everything we said we would," Jorandan concluded brightly.  "After all, he did perish of _natural _causes -- technically speaking, of course.  It was well in our scope of living a nice full life on that backwater plant without any...outside interference.  Such things do happen, no?"

          Ayeka just stared off into the cold steel wall.

          "The Regent would not see his masters angered -- it does go without saying _the Chousin _are fickle tempered mistresses.  And as they say, a deal is a deal.  How were we to _know_ the planet's life span would start recklessly accelerating until the core could take no more?  It is nature at its purest and a thing of beauty, in its own way."

          Ayeka's fists hit the table shattering the whole surface to pieces with brute force.  Shards went flying and the already deafening atmosphere of the bar became all the more silent.  

_          "You bastard!"  _

          The voice was testament to the energy rapidly returning to the scantily-clad woman and accompanied by blinding rage.  Energy cackled in both sight and sound -- the fire cascading endlessly in Ayeka's eye shone with unbridled fury.  

          It occurred to Jorandan that before him sat a woman with nothing further to lose and nothing more to live for.

          Even more peculiar was that at that precise moment someone tugged at Jorandan's robes causing him to immediately shift his focus and attention.  Looking down, and very irritably at best, he soon discovered the source of the disturbance as he gazed into the wide blue eyes of Michiko.

_          "Hi!" _she greeted in the brightest and friendliest of manners.  "I'm Michiko!"  

          The child-like innocence rang true.

          Jorandan's eyebrow instantly arched curiously as he returned to glance at Ayeka, whom had cooled down, at least momentarily with the encroachment of this strange child.

          "Leave _child_," Ayeka growled.  "This is no place for you." 

          The smile on Michiko's lips faded.  "But I have some information you might like!"

          "Stupid child, I said _leave!_"

          Michiko, not anticipating that her idol would be so aggravated by her presence, was taken aback and completely unsure of how to proceed next.

          "Now, now Ayeka, let's see what this adorably filthy germ bag has to say?"  Jorandan chimed in, most amused at where this was going.  It wasn't his nature to associate with native inhabitants -- nor was it his nature to associate with anyone outside of Jurain high society.  But as he saw it, the misery this child's presence was causing his voluptuous companion was a treat in of itself.

          Not sure how to meet such a cheerfully coated insult, Michiko began stuttering.  "I--I ju..just thought you-you'd like to know where Ten--Tenc-chi was hiding."  Out of reflex, she took several steps backwards until she bumped into the wall.  Frustrated, the blue skinned girl bit her tongue until she was once again in control of her faculties.  She was better than this and she knew it -- she'd make _both_ of them see it!  "I know where Tenchi is.  I can lead you to him if you want -- for a price."  Confidence returning, she took two bold steps forward on her bare little feet.

          Silence was her response.

          "You know little thing," Jorandan remarked offhand, "it is very impolite to eavesdrop on other people's conversations."

          Violent denial erupted from Michiko's lips, "Oh no, sir!  He arrived on the station looking for you.  You see, we had all seen your ship dock so we knew where to find you.  I guided him up from C-dock, it's a lot of levels down..."

          Michiko's tale was viciously interrupted when Ayeka's forehand slapped the left side of her face, sending the small child sprawling to the hard floor.  The red mark the blow left added insult to injury to the little girl and instantly found herself fighting back tears.  _I promised myself I'd never cry again...I promised..._ she thought frantically to herself, recoiling from a blow she never dreamed would be inflicted by _her_.

          "He's here.  I'll take you to him," she insisted coolly, getting to her feet as fast as she could.  

          "Petulant child.  If I have to repeat myself once more, I will--"

          Curling his hands underneath his chin, Jorandan spoke,  "Pray tell, little thing, what do you want?"

          Michiko didn't miss a beat.  "To go with her." she said confidently, pointing to Ayeka.  "That's all."

          Jorandan laughed, "That's all?  All the things in the galaxy and _that's _all you want?"

          Michiko nodded.

          "Do you hear that, Ayeka?  She's willing to give up the location of your deceased beloved just for the chance to travel with you!  The irony is absolutely delicious."       
          "Enough with the games, Jorandan!" she snapped.

          "No -- I'm having fun," the alabaster haired man declared, "let us up the stakes, shall we?"

          The look of sheer contempt Ayeka shot him couldn't have been more apparent.  Michiko, for her part, seemed once again optimistic and oblivious to the fact a cruel game was now being waged which she was guaranteed to lose.  Jorandan, quite naturally, was enjoying himself thoroughly.

          "I propose we investigate the information you have prepared for us," he gleaned.  "Afterwards, should we determine your honesty; you will be permitted to remain with Ayeka for the rest of however long you both shall live.  Although I must warn you, such a life is very fleeting, it is indeed.  Should we discover how truly creatively treacherous you are, your life, for our due compensation, is of course forfeit."

          Michiko gulped.  Ayeka muttered to herself.  Jorandan smiled serenely.

          The lavender haired pirate clenched both her fists tightly, causing the latex material of her elbow-length gloves to squeak quietly under stress.  She was humiliated, no, not after coming to understand the meaning of the word decades ago.  Truth be told, she wasn't particularly surprised either.  Just enraged for hoping against the obvious.  Every woman had her limit -- and she had crossed that threshold years ago.    

          For that reason, and more, Ayeka striked.  In mere milliseconds Jorandan found himself encompassed by countless miniature guardians pulsating with raw energy.  The successive shocks that bolted through his entire body were lethal to anyone, save those trained in the Jurian arts.         

          Jorandan screamed out in agony as the energy lashed out Ayeka's vengeance.  Concentrating heavily, Ayeka honed in her attack and contracted the tight field of miniature guardians like a vice, until at least it would give no more.  She watched contentedly as he withered in pain before drawing both arms back and closing her eyes sharply.  Focusing, she released the field while propelling herself forward, effectively freeing Jorandan, and unleashing a devastating physical blow enhanced by her Jurian power, hurdling the lithe man through the dense metallic wall and leaving him reeling.   

          Now behind her, she arched her neck to one side and scowled at Michiko.  The girl found herself encased in a static electrical field by Ayeka and tossed effortlessly to the front of the store, like a gerbil tumbling in a transparent plastic ball, to where the main bar stood.  

          The spacious room was once more silent save for the faint music playing in the background.  Around her, curious eyes nodded their approval of Ayeka's tactics while others scoffed at Jorandan's half-conscious form implanted in the far east wall.  

          But it was too easy -- far too easy -- and Ayeka knew it before the thought had fully materialized.

          Despair filled the room immediately as though the emotion had become a real, tangible substance and blanketed all corners of the room.  From both levels of VaBou's Bar, shrieks and screams rose up in pure horror as realization dawned on everyone.

          Twelve robed figures in black slate filed into the bar soundlessly bearing wooden power staves, contorted and black in every curve, raised over each's right shoulder.  In the center of each robe cascaded a long red blotch of cloth on both front and back stained in blood red but with intricate, sloppy -- _twisted_ -- markings etched out in an even denser combination of black and red.  Each wore an _oni mask, a _dark crimson shade, eclipsing the face and serving as a cryptic skeletal insight to the eerie red light that bathed out from both eyes sockets.  

          There were no distinguishing marks or features by which one could tell them apart, except the gray hair.  It varied with some wearing it up in a crest, or tied low and falling over the back.         

          Ayeka turned to confront the new combatants only to have the color drain from her face and gasp escape her supple lips.

          _"Imperators."_

          Flanked by shadows, they approached and fanned out laying claim to strategic positions.  Ayeka sent a powerful energy bolt flying, hitting one of the dark figures square in the head, but afflicting no damage or even phasing the creature in the slightest.  The robed men encircled her with staves pointed menacingly close to her.  

          She was surrounded.  

          Ayeka cursed under her breath -- knowing she could do nothing.  Knowing that her fight was over.  

          From behind her, three hollow claps rang out.  Ayeka watched frustratingly as Jorandan brushed himself off and walked through the line of Imperators that encircled her.  His robes were singed, his cheeks charred but his sickly serene smile was once more planted on his lips.  "You put on a nice show...in more ways than you know, Ayeka."      

          Resigned to her fate, Ayeka smiled back and shook her head lightly.  "Twelve Imperators -- going for overkill again, are we?"

          Scratching his chin, he quipped, "Better overdone than undercooked."  

          Slowly, the lithe man began pacing around her between the meager moat between her and the dark robed warriors.  Taunting her -- _daring_ her to do what he knew she wanted so badly.  But Jorandan valued the virtue of patience.  He knew time and pressure would be all it would take to push her over that final line, from which there was no return.  

          "Bring me the child." 

          Parting from his brethren, a lone Imperator broke the circle and headed straight toward the main bar.  Michiko remained curled in the corner, hugging her knees together.  

          She was trembling violently.

          The wraith-like figure approached her silently.  "Please...don't touch me...please don't touch me..." she chanted in a voice no higher than a whisper.  She looked and blinked sporadically but couldn't comprehend what was now happening. 

          As the gloved hand of the Imperator reached out for her, all at once she found herself in the static force field sphere Ayeka had used to move her away.  The bubble raised her into the air and gently toward the circle where Ayeka stood dead still.

          Ayeka's posture, as it always had been, was nothing less than pristine.  The Imperators energized their staves in response -- dark energy cackling at each of their cruel tips and begging to be released.  She smiled graciously at the irritated Jurian in front of her.  "I was only doing what you asked," she said innocently.  

          Scowling, Jorandan briskly resumed his cyclical pacing.  Curiosity was evident in his eyes.  

          "How did you know his name was Tenchi?" he wondered out loud, looking at Michiko.  "Neither of us mentioned the once in our conversation."

          "I told her," someone from behind explained, just as scores of people began utilizing this distraction and fleeing the bar.  The voice was firm -- calm even -- not fueled by anger and what was spoken was a statement of fact and nothing more.

          All eyes raced to trace the source of the voice.  All heads and eyes turned around to discover a dark man standing before them only feet away.  Though his eyes were masked due to the dim light, three triangles burned brightly from on top his forehead.  

          To his side, the blade of the master key ignited sweeping away any further doubt as to the man's identity.

          **| **- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **||** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|**

          Moments before.

          "That little runt just sold me out," Tenchi remarked more to himself than to Vaughn, "Just like that."

          "It happens," the older man admitted.

          Betrayal was a curious sensation.  Denial and confusion were common elements of it, at least initially.  Tenchi watched Michiko as she made her case, or rather, her _sales pitch_.  The impoverished little girl who had nothing, no family, and from the looks of it no real friends, had taken the precious, yet preposterous, knowledge of his survival and was now bartering for it on the open market.

          He didn't know what to feel.  If anything, the sickening feeling that encroached in his gut felt more like disappointment.  Tenchi had promised to take her with him.  Didn't she believe him?  

          It was beside the point now, he realized, for better or worse she had chosen.    

          All at once Ayeka had attacked.  Her fluid motions and graceful maneuvers were proof of how powerful she truly was -- and how much more lethal she had become since he had known the kimono-clad princess years before.  Just as abruptly as the battle at started, the sudden appearance of the dark robed figures had effectively ended it.  

          Tenchi watched as the situation went from already inexplicably bad, to even worse.  Ayeka's most powerful attack hadn't slowed down the caliginous creatures.  The blast hadn't triggered a force field.  It hadn't been repelled by some telekinetic countermeasure.  It was absorbed as though it had never hit.  

          She had lost.  She had all but surrendered while the grisly Imperators surrounding her.  

          _I know those masks...where I have I seen them before?_

          The answer came to him quickly, disturbing him even more than he already was.  For now, it was a pointless matter, but one he would ponder at a more convenient time.  If ever.

          He marveled at the sheer absurdity that once more the forces of the cosmos were again stacked squarely against him.   Even more remarkably, he found himself taking slowly but surely taking steps down the sequestered staircase.  

          An angry hiss halted his descent.  He turned to find Vaughn staring at him angrily.  

          "What do you think your doing?"

          Tenchi thought for a moment before responding. "Acting on instinct."

          Vaughn shook his head.  "There's a back panel over here, you can get out with me.  Everyone down there has sealed their fates," he explained.   "Just the luck of the draw."

          "I can't," he admitted.  The mere thought revolted him.  Yes, descending down those steps would probably mean certain death.  He knew that -- he recognized it.  But he also knew turning away and running would be an insult to everything he had endured and sacrificed.  Cowards way out?  Yes.  Did it ensure survival?  Probably.  Did he deserve an easy out?  Most assuredly.

          "Don't throw your life away."

          Tenchi had heard this string of words before.  He remembered vividly the man who had spoken them to him.  He had come this far.  Turning back now, no matter the odds, would render himself pointless and _devoid_.  And like the boy of twenty years ago, he was walking into the unknown and ready to take on anything that stood in his way.

          "Sorry," he offered Vaughn apologetically with a bittersweet frown.  "You better run before it's too late for you."

          "You can't win."

          "It doesn't matter"

          No longer did Vaughn look at him with muddled interest, but now sparkling curiosity and confusion at what his ears were hearing.  Before him stood a man in his prime.  Below him stood death and a girl that betrayed him.  It didn't click -- and it was more that fact than anything else that intrigued him to no ends.

          "Here," he said, tossing Tenchi a thin rectangular device.  "This will do you more good than it'll do me."

          Tenchi caught it in midair, running his hands over its smooth surface. A single flat yellow button was built into the dark gray base.  "What is it?"

          "High yield explosive," he explained as he got up from his chair, tapped the back wall and waited for a medium sized panel to open.  ''Oh," he said, turning back from the secret exit, "the thing's busted -- it can only set itself for a fifteen minute countdown once you hit the button."

          Tenchi's immediately smashed the yellow activation mechanism with his thumb.  A beep sounded as a tiny translucent LCD appeared on the device's surface -- counting down the time.

          Vaughn looked back at him questioningly, a smile threatening his lips.  "Enjoy yourself."

          Tenchi grinned darkly. "I intend to."

          Moments later Vaughn was gone.  The side panel slid back concealing the old man's unobtrusive departure.

          Unhooking the Tenchi-ken from his belt, he put it down on the table along with the device.  Instinctively, he made a fist with his right hand and squeezed tightly as his mind raced.  Tenchi brought up the hand and looked at it questioningly.  The wooden ring, circled in obsidian in the center, glimmered back at him.

          It was his connection to the ship -- something he could feel in the back of his mind.  It was also still his armor ring that the goddess Tsunami had given him.  

          A quick turn activated the armor function.

          Instantaneously thick cobalt-blue liquid erupted from both sides of the ring and spread over his body forming the base of the armor.  When it was over, Tenchi found himself encased in a seamless garment comprised entirely of the now-solid dark blue liquid.  Intricate amber patterns swirled around his wrists, two sky-blue halos wrapped around his shoulders.  The familiar Jurian neck guards still dotted the base of his neck and were accompanied by the same ornate headband.

          Some annoyances never changed.            

          Still, overall Tenchi decided he was more comfortable in Washu's incarnation of his armor ring.  The old suit was too...bizarre for his tastes and seemed to restrict movement.  The new version had no such aversions.

          Gathering his sword and the explosive from the face of the table, Tenchi silently descended the stairs in reserved haste.  

          Once more he found that there was no turning back.

          _Act on instinct,_ Tenchi recanted.

          Instinct, and a few surprises, were all he had to go on.

          **| **- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **||** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|**

          "You look surprised."

          The line of _Imperators _parted as six broke the circle to form dual lines flanking Tenchi's left and right.  Jorandan stood mouth agape slightly as he stared vehemently, refusing to believe the truth his eyes told him.  

          Michiko looked at him sheepishly, forcing a bleak smile as she peeked out from behind the lavender haired woman's boots. 

          "Yo..you..." Jorandan stuttered, but Tenchi quickly silenced him.

          "Wasn't talking to you," Tenchi explained.  "I was talking to _her_."

          Tenchi's gaze swept from Jorandan and settled knowingly onto Ayeka Jurai.   Their eyes met -- crimson to cinnamon -- a reunion over twenty years in coming.  Both stared for what seemed like a lifetime but were in actuality only seconds.  

          Tenchi smiled at her.  Faced by overwhelming opposition and confronted with what could be his own demise; it was the only thing that seemed right.  The smile conveyed unmistakable realities to the former princess, realities which Tenchi would sooner die than abandon; among them hope and love, but most of all a curiously demented sense of bemusement for catching her off guard over something that had occurred twice already in their relationship before -- him returning from the dead.

          In response to his tacit teasing she said nothing.  

          Much to her horror, Ayeka Jurai, the most dreaded outlaw in known space, the most independent symbol of femininity and beacon of worship and respect for countless in the galaxy, found herself blushing.

          When Tenchi's smile had at last faded from his lips, he struck without warning.

          The blue blade of the master key spun widely from Tenchi's finger tips, flying through the air and cutting cleanly through the first four Imperators resigned to it's path.  Each crumpled to the ground emitting a ghastly moan that never seemed originate from the beast's own mouths.  

          Yards away, the Tenchi-ken hit the wall with a thunderous crack, deactivated and fell to the floor with a clamor.

          Tenchi wasted no time.  Immediately he launched himself onto Jorandan and hit him with a punch, catapulting the young-looking Jurian to the hard metal plating of the floor with a loud thud.  Shock at last rescinded from his system as it dawned upon him that someone was repeatedly striking his face with potently violent strength.

          A shock of Jurian energy repulsed Tenchi, sending him tumbling several feet away.

          Tenchi rose to his feet grinning.

          Trying to catch his breath, Jorandan did his best to return the gesture.  "My, my, my.  So far from home are we, Tenchi?"  He paused with malice shinning in his eyes.  "Aww.  That's right; you don't have a home any more do you?"

          "You've already lost this fight, Jorandan."

          "Have I?" Jorandan replied with an air of sarcasm.  "How very good of you to tell me.  I suppose now you expect me to drop to my knees and allow you to take my head?"

          Tenchi shrugged undaunted.  "Don't say I didn't warn you."

          To his side, the Imperators gutted by the Tenchi-ken's flight were wiggling along the floor plating.  They weren't dead.  Around him, the rest of them maintained their distance cautiously.  Tenchi saw this and wondered why.  Why the Jurian master key had affected them and Ayeka's blast of Jurian energy hadn't eluded him.  

          But the obvious did not.  

          The deathbringer's mere presence affected everyone in their vicinity -- washing out the light of hope, heightening one's trepidation.  Their power aurora was great, something he could sense.  Something he could almost feel.  

          He could feel they feared him.  The black harbingers of death feared _him_.

          Was it because of his survival?  Was it the power locked deep down inside of him that he had used only twice before?  A power he couldn't even begin to harness let alone control?

          Tenchi didn't know why.  At this moment, he didn't care why.  All that mattered was that they _did_.

          Grinning, and all sense of deja vu fleeing him, Tenchi slowly walked up to Jorandan until their faces were only inches apart.  "You _owe _me a hand."

          Before Jorandan could respond, the Tenchi-ken was back in his hands, fully ignited.  The blade swept upwards, screaming through flesh once more.  Jorandan's right arm flew in the air leaving a trail of blood raining down below.

          Jorandan screamed in pain, clutching the stub of what was left of his lower right side while withering in sheer agony.

          Tenchi turned around and walked away from him.  Jorandan had paid the price for not comprehending.    

          In front of him, Ayeka smirked. 

          "Where's the girl?" Tenchi said glancing around.

          "She scampered out through the front door about the time you ripped into our poor _disarmed_ friend here."

          He had forgotten her accent.  It always had been subtle, smooth even, but the way words rolled off her lips had always been...enthralling.

          "Let's go," he shrugged, not entirely sure how he felt about the girl's escape.  

          She nodded curtly and turned to follow him, as side by side they went through the front door together and exited VaBou's bar, leaving frozen Imperators and one very tormented Jurian in their wake.

          **| **- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **||** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|**

          The main corridor of Enclave Station was a wonder even it its current state of dilapidation.  From both ends of it, massive ports housed circular windows showcasing the marvels and beauty of space.  In-between, the wide corridor stretched on for a good kilometer with shops and housing complexes dotting both sides.

          Compared to earlier, not many people were out.  An eerie atmosphere descended the normally bustling section of the station.

          Ayeka and Tenchi hadn't gotten far when they heard the loudspeaker spring to life.    

_          ** Attention all people!  Attention all people!  Jurian armada on an intercept course to station!  Evacuate the station.  We repeat, evacuate the station!  This is not a drill!   Repeat, this is not a drill! **_

          Red warning lights began flashing in conjunction with claxon alarms.  

          Neither paid the message any attention.  Tenchi motioned to an elevator lift 40 yards away.  According to the station schematic map they had passed on the wall, the lift would get them to D-Deck, one level from where _Orca_ was presently docked.

          They were almost to the lift, around the middle of the corridor, before another unwelcome distraction hit them.

          "_MAASAAKI!  MAASAAKI!_"

          Far on the opposing end of the corridor, standing right in front of the massive windows overlooking the expanse, stood a distraught Jorandan flanked by his complement of _Imperators _-- who now numbered only eight.  Crudely tied around Jorandan's stub was a tourniquet.  Rage bled liberally from his already bulging and bloodshot eyes.  

          Suspended above and in front of all of them was tiny Michiko.

          Tenchi stood considering the scene before him, stood staring at the trembling girl who was terrified out of her wit's end.  She betrayed him.  Logic dictated she would do it again.  Reason stated that the only way to save her would be to take her.  It was a quandary.

          Rubbing the back of his neck, he let out a sigh.  "I'm going back for her."

          "Need I point out that insolent little brat just betrayed not ten minutes ago?" she asked, more upset than curious.  

          He rolled his eyes.  "Don't remind me.  My ship's on C-Deck.  You'll know it when you see it."

          It went without saying he was telling her to take it and escape.

          He started walking as fast as he could muster himself to go.  Thoughts rumbled in his mind.  He was treating this more as a chore, more of a cumbersome formality than anything.  Was this what life had reduced him to?  One could only take so much; true, but desensitization disturbed him.  Guilt was there, yet lax.  If it weren't for the immediacy of the situation at hand he'd spend a good while mentally debating with himself.

          And that was always an oh-so-fun fun event, repeated and repeated more times in his life than he liked to admit -- even to himself.

          When had he become so needlessly callous?

          Momentarily lost in his thoughts, it surprised him mildly that sauntering once more beside him was Ayeka Jurai.  

          He stopped.   She followed suit.

          As he turned to glare at her, she put both gloved hands on her elegantly shaped hips and shot him a look that could kill, literally. 

          "Few have told me what I can and cannot do and lived to tell the tale," she stated coolly.  "Consider this your one and only warning, Tenchi Masaki."

          He blinked at her before shaking his head.

          Things were accelerating.

          Continuing on, Ayeka and Tenchi arrived at the corridor's end swiftly.  They were greeted by charged power staves pointed directly at them by the remaining Imperators.

          "I see you finally managed to get your Imperators to do something useful," Ayeka remarked haughtily.  "Even if it was just standing there." 

          "What are they anyway?" Tenchi asked.

          "They were once Jurian Knights," Ayeka's malicious grin wavered until collapsing entirely, "Before the X'vonian got their hands on them.  Now they're soulless shells of who they once were, twisted and bound forever because of the treatment -- because of the poison and _black oil_."  

          The scowl on Jorandan's sweat-soaked face thickened.  "They'll fire if you move.  And while Tenchi may have found a way to penetrate _some_ of their defenses in melee, I doubt he can survive a direct blast.  For that matter, my _dear _Ayeka, I doubt your shield will stand in the way of any energy discharges given your earlier performance."

          A funny look etched its way onto the woman's face.  "Why not fire at us now?  You have to kill us," Ayeka pointed out.

          Tenchi laughed.  "It's not that simple anymore -- I'm _alive_.  These _things _have seen it," he said gesturing to the Imperators.   "He's seen it.  You've seen it.  That means, at least from where I'm standing, our one armed host is in a big pickle."

          Ayeka's cheshire grin widened with gleeful delight.

          "How did you get here?" Jorandan demanded.  "Who helped you get off the planet?"    

          "Someone once told me," Tenchi quipped, "that curiosity killed the cat."  Gawking at the things in front of him, Tenchi inclined his neck slightly.

          Jorandan motioned with his one good hand.  The staves already pointed at them hummed chaotically as energy began crackling from the tips -- black streams dancing wildly around the twisted dark wood.

          Inside Tenchi's mind, he was exploring, or rather searching for something.  

          That something was a connection he knew exited but had not explored.  He knew Jorandan was right, one blast from those staves and he was dead.  Same with Ayeka, and same with Michiko.  The dilemma of what to do with him now that he was off-planet would be a fleeting moment.  

          He had to make the most of it while the long haired man quivered over how best to resolve the matter while not losing face with whoever sent him.

          It was a long shot.  But lately, Tenchi had noticed he had had a great deal of success with long shots.

          "Release the girl to us," Tenchi countered, "and you'll get your answer."

          Jorandan seethed, nothing was going right, in the blink of an eye his entire mission stood on the verge of annihilation.

          Tenchi's mind raced.  He was close, so close to what he needed he could almost grasp it.  _Almost there...  _Elation hit him as the final connection was made and immediately, on a level that transcended the conscious and subconscious, he telepathically whispered his urgent request.  

          "Fine," Jorandan barked.  

          Motioning with his good left arm, the little girl descended to the floor's surface where she quickly ran to hide behind an irritated Ayeka.

          Ayeka glanced at Tenchi, as though to say,_ "Have you lost your mind?"  _Tenchi smiled back and nodded gently as to reply, _"Yes, yes I have.  Thank you for noticing."_  She slowly nodded to herself, digesting the valuable information she had just acquired.  Michiko, as could be expected, was completely confused and bewildered.

          "Now who aided you?" Jorandan demanded once more.  "How did you get off Earth?"

          "Turn around."

          Fear seized the Jurian almost instantly, but he did so anyway as though coerced by powers unknown.  Bones crackled softly as he turned, echoing from neck and shoulder, snapping eerily in his broken body.

          Directly outside the massive station window, mere feet away from where group stood, a daunting obsidian ship lay poised in space.  At the end of each jagged wing protruding from the main body of the vessel, blue plasma charged threateningly, waiting for the release it was sorely craving.

          Jorandan barely had time to form his dense power sphere around him before the first shots ripped into the aging window, blowing the surface to shreds and leaving a twin trail of smoldering destruction along the inner floor.  Already prepared, Ayeka's hand pushed forward forming a protective shield around both she, Tenchi and Michiko.  

          With the barrier between the compressed environment and space shattered, the station inside's were now exposed to the vacuum of space.

          Everything gravitated toward the newly created gash in the station.  The remaining Imperators howled in rage as they found their bodies propelled into outer space, the luxury of a Jurian force field beyond their grasp.  The howling was soon dwarfed by the deafening shrieking created by the space vacuum itself.  

          As quickly as the chaos had begun, it ended as the station's cumbersome repair systems activated an automated force field over the breach and gravity returned to normal, leaving only the sound of claxon alarms blaring in the background.

          It occurred to Tenchi just then, as he considered the absolutely shell-shocked form of Joradan, hovering before him in his Jurian shield that his odds had dramatically shifted to his favor for the first time since his little odyssey had begun.  They now stood at 2 against 1.

          He couldn't help but smile at that.   

          Jorandan knew it was over.  Grimly, he surveyed the carnage a supposedly dead man had inflicted in mere seconds.  Words failed him, so instead he reconstituted his spherical force field and kept his distance.  

          He was now the dead man. 

          Whether by the combined efforts of the harlot-of-a-princess and the lone warrior, or by the Regent, his fate was as good as sealed.  Running would do him no good.  There was no place to run, nowhere he could hide.  Even now they knew.

          Jorandan laughed, a rich, full sound arching through the corridor and illuminating the precariousness of his state-of-mind.

          Adding insult to injury, the three people below him where now walking away.

          "You're just going to leave me here?" the battered Jurian half-choked.

          "I already told you back in the bar," Tenchi responded, looking over his shoulder, "you already lost this fight."

          "You're saying it was destined?"

          "No," Tenchi sighed, stopping to turn around once more, appearing annoyed.  "I'm saying that just less than fifteen minutes ago I decided your fate to try to save you the pain."

          Now the tables where fully turned on Jorandan -- defeated in mind and body, now reduced to pandering for mere answers.

          "How?" he asked feebly.

          Now Michiko and Ayeka were peering at him questioningly with curiosity evident in each of their eyes.  

          "Check the inside of your robe -- right side.  It's my gift to you.  Something you would not do me the courtesy of back on Earth."

          With his left arm, he fumbled slightly as he separated the inner robe from outer and slid his hand inside.  He found the smooth, cold rectangular object almost immediately.  He pulled it out just in time to see the LCD display the final stages of the countdown. The small display read 3, and then 2, until reaching 1.

          His final thoughts raced between wondering how an isolated quarter-breed had gotten the better of him.  He wondered about the foolish orders.  He thought about the fear that had processed the Jurian High Council to take such elaborate measures to dispose of one man.   It was amusing to him how he had thought the whole matter pointless, extreme even, and a waste of time.  

          But most of all, he thought of how horrifyingly they had underestimated Tenchi Masaki.

          The explosion that erupted enveloped Jorandan T'seni completely, killing him instantly, but bouncing off the perfectly cyclical walls of his still-whole energy field and creating a perfect sphere of fire.  Moments later the field dissipated, showering the floor with amber shards and charred remains.

          "Its over," Michiko breathed, still deeply shaken from the events of the last fifteen minutes.  The longest quarter hour of her young life.

          Tenchi looked over the station one last time, before resuming his walk toward the shattered port window where _Orca_ awaited them.  

          "No Michiko," he corrected.  "It's only begun."

          **| **- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **||** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|**

          Sometime later aboard _Orca, _Tenchi and Ayeka sat across from one another at a table in a section that served as the ship's small mess hall.  In another room, Michiko slept soundly.  As they had left the station, the initial vanguard of the Jurian armada had arrived to begun their assault.  Stealthily, the nimble ship had escaped like the phantom it was, leaving only a haunting visual behind and no discernable information for the fleet's scanners -- only dust and echoes.

          A conversation twenty years in coming was in it's infancy.

          "Let me be clear Ayeka," Tenchi explained, "I don't want the throne.  Whatever claim I ever had as First Crown Prince, I forfeit."

          A bemused expression crept its way onto Ayeka's radiant face.  She crossed both arms over her buxom chest.

          "Whatever happened to the Royal Family, I'm truly sorry.  But I have to be clear and upfront with you -- I don't want anything to do with the crown.  I never have, I never will."  Determination and honesty, laced with all the honest-to-goodness sincerity he could muster, was clearly what he was attempting to convey, knowing these qualities were often lacking in most his conversations with the girls back on earth, decades ago.  

          "I have to find my own way," he continued.  "No matter how prestigious, no matter how fulfilling or rewarding the _duty _is, that's what it boils down to.  I'll do all I can to help you reclaim what was taken from you and your family, but my help ends there. "As much as he hated to, he concluded with the final blow, "I can't live that life."

          Tenchi waited Ayeka's response.  A minute or two passed before the look on her face disintegrated into a hysterical look as she broke out laughing.

          In the recesses of his mind, he had tried to predict what kind of reaction he might receive from such blatant honesty.  This obviously wasn't one of them.

          "You stupid, stupid man," Ayeka cackled as she wiped a tear from her eye.  "You don't know _anything_ do you?  Though I really must thank you for the laugh.  I don't think I've laughed that hard in..."  She paused.  

          "Let's just say a long while," Tenchi finished for her.  "I understand."

          "Do you?" she asked, her voice dead serious.  "Let me explain something to you right now, Tenchi.  I don't want to _'liberate' _Jurai.  My intention is to *_annihilate* _it." 

          "What?" he asked incredulously.

          She chuckled darkly at that.  "My family...ruled Jurai for countless centuries.  My own father was on the throne for thousands of years.  We made mistakes.  We were not without our faults.  But we preserved peace and order in the galaxy."  Sighing to herself, she tried regaining her composure which she was losing a battle to control.  "You couldn't understand."

          "I can only understand as much as you tell me."

          "Very well," she muttered.  "When the coup happened, and the X'vonian arrived, we weren't merely cast out -- we were _shackled_.  Imagine if you can seeing your mother, your father, the very people who had protected you throughout your _entire _life, bound in the cruelest way imaginable.  The X'vonian provided their Jurian collaborators with a device called the _chaparral_ that countered and utterly drained whatever Jurian energy the person attached to it may have.  It was a heinous weapon, Tenchi."

          Tenchi could only listen intently, the sweet taste of knowledge more bitter than he expected it would be.

          "The _chaparral_ is a thick vine-like creature at first glance, but that is an inadequate way of describing what it is," she explained grimly.  "A living, breathing organism -- it chokes you, leaving you perpetually out of breath with only enough oxygen to survive.  All around it black thorns jet out, boring into skin and clamping down to ensure once attached it will never come off, save at the cost of the host's own life.  My mother was the captain of the royal bodyguards.  She was always so strong, so very beautiful.  I remember watching her whither in agony and sheer torture.  Blood was pouring freely from the wounds in her neck, cascading down her body...staining...everything."  

          "The Jurian rebels, lead by several influential council members and leaders of the great houses, executed the coup de tat, with the X'vonian covertly overseeing it all."

          "Who are they, the X'vonian?" Tenchi asked.  "I've never heard of them once before today."

          "No one ever heard of them until twenty years ago.  What we do know is that they arrived somewhere in the Arteris sector.  We know that they poured out that region swarming and raining down destruction to whatever was unfortunate things crossed their path.  The initial slaughter lasted little over three weeks and then stopped abruptly.  Many speculated they were probing our defenses initially, others claimed they became bored at the ease in which they were able to conquer entire systems.  I'm inclined to believe that they decided it didn't matter.  They could destroy what they wanted when they wanted and come and go as they pleased.  Coordinated assaults were rendered pointless."

          "What about Jurian treeships?"  

          This didn't make sense to Tenchi, the most powerful empire in the cosmos unable to stand their grown?  What of the Lighthawk Wings?

          "First, second and third generation of treeships had some very good success against them.  Their trees were strong and able to generate powerful enough Lighthawk Wings to muster considerable resistance.  But there were too few in number and scattered too far across the galaxy at the time.  Then the protests started."

          "Protests?"

          "Yes, Tenchi, protests."  Ayeka's mood darkened to a level Tenchi thought unimaginable.  "Having been the hegemon in the galaxy for longer than there was recorded history, it came a shock to many that the great Jurian Star Empire was losing the war."

          "So they protested _that_?" Tenchi questioned.

          Putting her elbows on the table, she raised her hands to massage her aching temples.  "No, Tenchi, they protested the war itself."

          "You mean the way the war was being fought?"

          "The war," she reiterated bluntly.  "Peace demonstrations began with only a few thousand protesting.  Those numbers quickly grew to the millions, and then the billions -- on Jurai and across the empire.  People believed a _'negotiated peace'_ could be attained without further bloodshed.  Those fools thought that an enemy that had invaded unprovoked would actually bargain," she scoffed bitterly.  "Those fools were right."

          She rose from her chair and walked over to gaze out the port window.  Endless stars streamed by dimly lighting the shadows of her cheeks.

          "When the coup began," she continued slowly, "the people did not revolt in our support.  The massive demonstrations ended overnight.  The newly installed interim government signed a formal alliance with the X'vonian.  Thus, without ever firing a shot on the planet, Jurai effectively surrendered.  Ever since, the_ mighty_ Jurian Empire has been puppet society subject to X'vonian whims and desires."

          "When...exactly did this happen?"

          "The initial X'vonian assault began three weeks after I returned home."

          Tenchi cringed; absently he noticed his arms were trembling slightly.  "Everything was coordinated.  All this was planned."

          A few feet away, a distant look swept across Ayeka's face.  

          "My father, Azusa, received the most generous death.  After they were satisfied they had extracted all the information they required, DNA samples, or whatever for their experiments with Jurian power and the trees, they threw him to the crowds.  The Emperor of Jurai was beaten savagely and killed by a mob of lunatics armed only with crude weapons and mere stones.  It wasn't fast, certainly wasn't painless, but it wasn't the worst fate I suppose."    

          His lip quivering, Tenchi tried to swallow but found his mouth had gone completely dry.  This wasn't what he wanted to hear.  He had gained so much _damnit_, survived so much.  Now his victories didn't seem so impressive but rather meager and hollow.

          "My father's wives, my mother Misaki and Aunt Funaho, suffered the most.  After their interrogation, each was taken to a different part of the capital.  The only thing in common these places had was that they were poor.  People there were from the shallow end of the receiving pool, let's leave it at that.  It was to them where they threw them.  Only, the Empresses of Jurai weren't only beaten savagely...but rather...violated...over and over, again and again, by their _faithful_ and _loyal_ subjects."

          The venom in her voice was matched only by the pain reflected.

          "Mother's corpse was left in the streets -- broken, bloodied and mangled.  The X'vonian and Jurian conspirators didn't see fit to prop it up as a symbol of their victory, rather left it to the gutters were it went out of sound and out of sight until decomposing entirely in the open."

          Moments past that echoed eternity.  Tenchi's fists were clenched in silent rage, unnoticed by him were the tears that streamed freely down each side of his cheek.  He remained silent.

          "Funaho was always a survivor.  I don't know how, but somehow, she managed to escape after the several hours after being hurled to the masses.  She found me and told me -- guided me really -- to a place of sanctuary known only to the Royal Family.  There were enough resources and equipment to last an eternity while being spent on practical purposes.  Aunt Funaho paid the price, her body had already sustained too much trauma, along with the forced separation from her space tree she died soon after showing me the way."

          "Separating the bond between the space trees," Tenchi realized out loud.  "It was the black oil, wasn't it?"

          "Yes, depending on how they used it, it either killed the tree or warped it into a state which the X'vonian could make use of it."

          "How did you escape?"

          "I didn't," a sad look came into here eyes.  "They let me go; and that was perhaps the great insult of them all.  To tear down a noble dynasty that had existed for countless lifetimes is one thing.  They forced me to watch everything, _everything_!  I'm not sure if it was the Jurian or X'vonian's idea.  But whoever's notion, I was dropped off after it was all over at a rundown homeless shelter on Korina IV, it's a small planet in the Galor system," she explained bitterly.  

          "And..Sasami?" he said in a low, hushed tone, a question he feared asking but found himself unable avoid.

          "She was taken at the very same time the royal family was placed under arrest," Ayeka spoke wistfully, "I have not seen my sister for twenty years.  I believe," she started, "..I _must_ believe that my sister is dead."

          "But surely with her link to Tsunami she'd--"

          Shaking her head, Ayeka chuckled slowly.  "Many of the protesters said that Tsunami had abandoned us because of the wickedness of Jurai's rulers.  Fools didn't know she was always nearby in both body and spirit.  They say after my family was stripped of power that Tsunami ascended back into the heavens where she rules and benevolently oversees the universe beside her two sisters -- the _Chousin_.  Those same people say that the Regent, the man who controls both political and religious aspects of Juraian culture now, is directly endowed by them as their faithful and loyal servant."

          Tenchi wiped his eyes while turning away from Ayeka.  He could not face her.  "Who is the Regent?"

          "No one knows.  It is perhaps the most carefully guarded secret of all."

          Ayeka returned her gaze back to shaken man before her.  The very same person who had intervened and saved her and the little girl's life was now trembling and painfully fighting away tears.  She shed no tears of her own.  She had none.

          Gently, Ayeka raised her hand to her neck and let her gloved fingers roam over the spiked collar that adorned her swan-like neck.  Hitting a hidden clasp, the black collar loosened considerably, enough to allowing her to remove it completely.

            When Tenchi noticed this, he slowly turned around, arching his neck in advance to look at her.  Trailing the middle of her elegant neck, completely disguised behind the mantle of the spiked collar, a jagged wound rounded her neck.  Thorn-like impressions delved a quarter inch into her skin and dotted the jagged gash like an lethal pattern of vines.   Tenchi did not need to ask to know what had caused it.

          "The vine Tenchi," Ayeka said, "cannot be removed from the host and survive."

          Gawking remorsefully at the scar, Tenchi stammered, "The X'vonian have a way?"

          She nodded, "Which they gave the Jurians, who released me from it.  But I wasn't lying, Tenchi, one always wears the _chaparral _until death.  One way or the other."

          "And now you know," Ayeka continued almost whimsically, "why I will finish what that _devil woman_ began over two thousands years ago.  The combined Jurian/X'vonian forces swept across the galaxy like a plague raping and pillaging whatever they came across.  Whole worlds were slaughtered.  The galaxy as we know it has been destabilized and chaos and anarchy rule.  When it's not the coalition killing, it's the pirates, warlords and criminals of the universe." 

          "What about the GXP?" Tenchi mumbled, "I was told there were remnants left around the outer rim."

          "Horribly outmatched and outgunned," Ayeka snorted.  "But worst of all those idiots still fly and die by that inane _'code of honor'_ they oh-so-cherish.  They're not even a remotely effective resistance organization."

          "Mihoshi?"

          "She was actually a top detective before she came into our lives," Ayeka mentioned casually.  "She wasn't the bumbling bimbo we knew her as.  Mihoshi was forced to reclaim her equilibrium somehow, and from what I hear that's not a good thing...that is, if she's still even alive." 

          There was one more question.  One he now feared to ask more than anything.  But one he ultimately had no choice than to confront.

          From out of his pocket, he produced an ancient tattered letter folded several times over.  Wordlessly he handed it over to her.  She took it, unfolded it and read it's contents.

          "Why did you leave?'

          "I promised...we promised," she began, "to never say anything about this."

          Tenchi moved closer to her, undaunted and unphased by the disfiguring scar bordering her bare neck. "Ayeka...please," he urged.

          "The whole matter is null and void now," she shrugged, "especially after today."

          "I still remember waking up that morning," Ayeka sighed dreamily.  "The sun was so warm on my face.  Everything just seemed..right.  You and your father had left early that morning to go to Tokyo to pick up some things.  I had just finished getting dressed; I could smell Sasami cooking breakfast in the kitchen.  When I got to the kitchen, he was there."

          Tenchi frowned.  "Who?"

_          "Yosho,"_ she spat venomously.  "Not the wrinkled old man you know as your grandfather, Tenchi, but rather my brother.  His glasses and gray hair were merely an elaborate hoax to deceive us all.  He was there sipping tea when I arrived.  Sasami was sitting next to him quietly.  Standing over both of them was Jorandan, but not the young boyish man you killed today, rather the aging high priest of the Holy Council."

          "Soon after the whole family arrived; Mihoshi, Washu and a very grumpy Ryoko.  We all crowded around the table to hear what they had to say, and for me, to get some answers." 

          The sickening feeling that had been exponentially growing inside of him since this conversation had begun was now reaching it's climax.  Without really knowing it, the gears within Tenchi's mind, the thought processes and semantic that had laid dormant as Ayeka related her story, began subconsciously moving once more.  _Grandfather..._

          "Jorandan proposed a simpe deal," Ayeka said, "leave the planet forever or else your life, and the life of the planet, was forfeit."

          "What?" raged Tenchi.

          "It got better -- Yosho insisted we do so.  He said something was coming.  Told us there was no other way.  To make matters worse, Washu agreed.  I've never seen her so subdued before, so vacant.  Her eyes were haunted, as though all the ghosts of her past had suddenly returned."

          "You and Ryoko didn't go along with it."

          It was a statement of fact, not opinion.

          "No, not at first.  But with Washu persuaded to their side, Ryoko and I quickly found ourselves on the defensive.  It was only a matter of time before we saw no other way to save you, or this planet.  Yosho told us how much you wanted a _normal _life and how all of us were hindrances, coupled with the threat on your life and planet, Mihoshi and I relented.  But Ryoko never did agree.  Washu easily put her in a trance with a snap of her fingers and told Ryo-ohki to take her into space.  We were supposed to meet up at the coordinates she gave us.  But she," Ayeka said referring to the petite scientist, "walked through the closet door and that was the last any of us saw of her."

          "What happened at the rendezvous?"

          "We thought it was to plan our counter-moves," she sighed deeply, "but Washu never came.  During our departure, we cleaned the house, made everything as perfect as we could and said goodbye through this," she said holding up the paper Tenchi had given her.  "On our way through the hemisphere we saw strange looking ships deploying some sort of array that quickly cloaked itself once deployed."

          "X'vonian."

          "Yes," Ayeka confirmed.  "Had we ran the blockade barrier, the devices would have been activated and destroyed the planet and ever living thing on it.  There was no way to slip in undetected, and with Wasu gone, chancing it was too risky given the stakes."

          "Those devices were active the entire time," Tenchi said bitterly, his fists clenched once more to the point where it drew blood.

          "From what I learned today, that is also correct.  The arrays were in a low-stage mode that slowly eroded the core and ruined the atmosphere of Earth."

          "And Ryoko?"

          "We fought one last battle there at the rendezvous coordinates," she whispered with a tinge of regret, but mostly reverence.  "It was a terrible battle -- we blamed each other for what had happened. Who else was there besides us?  At the end my ship was crippled, had to be towed back to Jurai.  My final volley had done likewise to Ryo-ouki and sending her tumbling off into space.  I haven't seen or heard from her since."

          "And now you know," Ayeka sighed, regaining the topic.  "Now you _understand_ why I fight my own people.  They attack and the rest of the universe falls back.  Families destroyed, lives in ruins.  Some wounds -- _some cancers_ -- require drastic medical procedures.  It's better to lose a limb than a life," she said, not knowing how grimly ironic Tenchi found the comparison.  "Sometimes genocide is the only way to accomplish that amputation."

          Her eyes focused at him once more as she spoke slowly and evenly, "Most of all, I've learned that pain is the only true power in this life -- the ability to _survive_ and the ability to _inflict_."

          Someone had once said the truth shall set you free.  He didn't know who had originally spoken those words, but he did know that at this very moment in time he would enjoy nothing more than to strangle whoever said it until their eyes bulged and spilled out of the eye sockets. 

          They stood there looking at each other for the longest time.  No further words were spoken.  Two shattered people staring at each other, crying out for comfort, for the mere reassurance one was not alone.  Though side by side, neither knew how.  Comfort was unreachable to them, an alien concept forgotten entirely.

          He knew there was more she was keeping from him.  Other questions remained, but Tenchi had no heart to ask them here, or now.  In the short span of mere minutes, the sole survivor of Earth had discovered the single most horrifying truth imaginable only in the darkest of nightmares:

          What had happened to him was _nothing_.

          **| **- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **||** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **|**

          In space, there is nothing.

          This nothingness is the fiber of the galaxy -- an endless void intermixed with the tangible substance of planets, star clusters, nebulas and the very essence of life itself.

          In this void, a ship of jet ebony traverses the vastness of space with limitless ease.  Within this vessel, Tenchi Masaki finds himself in the midst of two traitors.  One, a small girl named Michiko, who betrayed him for personal gain.  The other, the space pirate Ayeka Jurai, a former crown princess of a galactic star empire she has sworn to destroy.  

          Neither of whom he understands.  Neither of whom he fully trusts.

          Now marked and forever distinguished by the three triangles scorched upon his forehead, Tenchi idly wonders what awaits him.  No longer does he endlessly fret and worry about the past, his friends and family.  In the span of days he has journeyed -- been _accelerated_ -- from the land of the dead to the land of the living.  He has endured what one should have never have escaped -- let alone conquered and vanquished.  

          It is this fact that reassures him and this fact alone.  

          It isn't a proclamation of defeat of his goals and desires -- or abandonment of promises made -- rather the acceptance of his inability to control.

          The universe may very well revolve around him, but he cannot control it.

          Yet.

          Still, he realizes that he and his two companions are fugitives from the forces controlling the current balance and order of the universe.  Each is marked in their own unique way, and through some ironic twist of fate, or sick joke, have found their lives connected, and for at least now, bound together. 

          Angst and the pain of the last eons of his life seem trivial and beside the point.

          And what was the point?  

          Is it destiny?  

          He despises the mere concept.  The three singular triangles on top of his forehead stand as testament mocking this belief -- _his _belief.

          Cruising through the nothingness of space, within his ship of jet ebony, Tenchi Masaki roams in body, mind and spirit striving to make sense and connect what was once whole.

**To be continued...**

  
**Closing Song: Hemisphere**  
Written by Iwasato Yuuho and performed by Sakamoto Maaya   
  
_In any case, what can I possibly do?  
What can I do to change the reality of this confined garden?   
  
I haven't even lived through half of my life yet  
I oppose and I embrace  
Experiences are unconsciously tattooed onto me   
  
When I'm in serious trouble  
Challenges also grab at me  
I was able to see my existence for the first time  
Towards a huge field, somewhere bigger and deeper  
I can only go to a world which exceeds expectations   
  
Tell me the meaning of "power"  
I wonder if it's something I can go through  
Or even if I devote myself  
Can I protect the things which I must protect?   
  
Clouds of dust whip up in the savannas of gazelles  
Until the winds die down, they must remain inside   
  
People continue to walk  
Just to live  
I move on as the incomplete data is re-written  
It seems I've started walking alone in the wilderness  
Until I become more confident I want to live up to myself   
  
Where did I come from long ago?  
Where is the distant future heading?  
I was abandoning it before I could notice it  
It seems I've started walking alone in the wilderness  
Until I become more confident I want to live up to myself   
  
When I'm in serious trouble  
Challenges also grab at me  
I was able to see my existence for the first time  
Towards a huge field, somewhere bigger and deeper  
I can only go to a world which exceeds expectations   
  
I want to know more about myself_   
  
The cycle will conclude in: **Lessons**. 

**--**

**Preview of next chapter:  **Knowledge is acquired by study.  Study is undertaken by exercising discipline.  Discipline gained through vigorous self-control and ever-vigilant supervision.  Tenchi, finding himself in dire need of these three elements, reluctantly agrees to study under the tutelage of a new teacher to better understand himself, his powers and heritage.  But what ulterior motives does his new teacher aspire for?  And just _what _will _she _do to poor Tenchi? 

**Authors Notes: ** Random stuff out of the way:

i. Tenchi's armor is as appears in the movie "Tenchi Muyo! in Love!" with a few elements of the old OAV set, namely the headband with dangling ornaments.  IE, Washu meets Tsunami in a non-lame version of TLC's "Trading Spaces."

ii. Do find a way to listen to _Hemisphere_ (from the anime RahXephon) at least once.  The more I listen to it the more I'm inclined to believe it's one of the better songs in existence.

iii. Until next time.


End file.
